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SENTINELS 
ALONG OUR COAST 







Photograph by the author. 

Inspecting a Floating Light at Sea 



SENTINELS 
ALONG OUR COAST 



BY 

FRANCIS A. COLLINS 

AUTHOR OF "THE WIRELESS MAN," "THE AIR MAN," "THE 
CAMERA MAN," ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS 




»%^« 



NEW YORK 
THE CENTURY CO. 

1922 



# 



\i^ V* 



Copyright, 1922, by 
The Century Co. 



Printed in U. S. A. 



SEP 19 1922 

©CI.A683283 
at C \ 



The author is especially indebted to Mr. 
George R. Putnam, commissioner of light- 
houses, U. S. A., for supplying official data, 
and to Mr. Putnam's excellent book, "Light- 
houses and Light-ships"; as well as to the 
untiring courtesy of many members of the 
service in lighthouses, in the division depots, 
and aboard the tenders and light-ships. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I Harbor Protection 



II Early Lighthouses . 

III America's First Lighthouses 

IV Building the Lighthouse . 
V Developing the Light 

VI A Night in a Lighthouse . 

VII The Fog Menace .... 

VIII Language of the Buoys . . 

IX A Service Depot .... 

X Aboard a Lighthouse Tender 

XI Aboard the Light-ship . 

XII Guarding the Pacific 

XIII Sentinels on the Great Lakes 

XIV Our Inland Waters . . 
XV With the Coast-Guard . 

XVI Steering by Radio Compass . 



PAGE 

3 

17 

34 

47 

74 

95 
108 

119 

134 

151 

IJ2 

193 
,209 
221 

234 
255 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Inspecting a Floating Light at Sea . . Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, Florida .... 40 

Staten Island Range Light, New York Harbor 41 

Waackaack Range Light, New Jersey ... 41 

Peck's Ledge, Long Island Sound .... 80 

Great Beds, Raritan Bay 80 

Stratford Shoal Light 80 

Lighthouse Lens with Lamp 81 

Combined Light and Whistling Buoy . . . 112 

Bell Buoy after a Collision at Sea ....112 

Line-Throwing Gun 113 

Complete Apparatus of Oil Vapor Lamp for 

Lighthouses 113 

Testing the Pressure of a Floating Light . . 132 

Nun Buoy 133 

Spar Buoy 133 

Can Buoy 133 

The U. S. Lighthouse Tender, "Tulip" . . 164 

ix 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

The Famous "Fire Island" Lightship, New 

York Harbor 164 

Scene in General Lighthouse Depot . . . 165 

Types of Unattended Lights 204 

Types of Post Lights for Inland Waters . . 205 

Execution Rocks Light, Long Island Sound . 256 

Crown Point Memorial Light, Lake Champlain 256 

Sending and Receiving Apparatus of Radio 

Compass .......... 257 



s 



SENTINELS 
ALONG OUR COAST 



THE LIGHTHOUSE 

Whether on high the air be pure, they shine 
Along the yellowing sunset, and all night 
Among the unnumbered stars of God they shine; 
Or whether fogs arise and far and wide 
The low sea-level drown — each finds a tongue 
And all night long the tolling bell resounds ; 
So shine, so toll, till night be overpast, 
Till the stars vanish, till the sun return, 
And in the haven rides the fleet secure. 

Robert Louis Stevenson 



SENTINELS ALONG 
OUR COAST 

CHAPTER I 

HARBOR PROTECTION 

WE found the mouth of that land to 
have many should barres before it, 
for we had but ten feet of water." 

So wrote Henry Hudson in the log of 
the Half Moon, on first entering New York 
Harbor in 1609. And the discoverer of 
these waters complained that he was obliged 
to work his way in very cautiously, by send- 
ing boats ahead of his diminutive craft to 
take soundings. The Half Moon had the 
draft of a modern tugboat. 

To-day radio signals from America may be 
picked up at any hour of the Atlantic cross- 
ing. Every approach to the "mouth of that 
land" is guarded by light-ships, which greet 

3 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

incoming traffic two hundred miles out, with 
their warning lights, radio signals, fog-horns 
and submarine bells. The welcoming flash 
of the hyper-radiant light at Navesink is 
often visible fifty miles at sea. 

Far outside the harbor entrance the radio 
compass gives minute directions for steering 
which are unaffected by the thickest fogs. 
Further in, the submarine bells enable the 
navigator to check his course through the 
various channels. Once at the entrance to 
the harbor, continuous rows of lighted buoys 
with lighthouses and other aides to naviga- 
tion form the "Great White Way" of the 
harbor, guiding inbound ships in safety to 
Quarantine. 

Were all these modern .aids to navigation 
suddenly removed, New York Harbor would 
be no less difficult to enter to-day than in 
the time of Henry Hudson. The "mouth 
of that land," despite its great width, is still 
beset with "should bar res" and other dan- 
gers. The increase in the size of vessels in 
three centuries complicates the problem. The 
great channels, which have been opened with 
so much labor and expense, would be useless 

4 



HARBOR PROTECTION 

without the constant vigilance of the light- 
house service. 

A vessel entering New York Harbor to- 
day may take advantage of virtually every 
aid known to navigation. The story of the 
safeguarding of this harbor, which is typical 
of all great American ports, is essentially the 
history of the modern lighthouse service. 
New York's harbor is protected by more than 
four hundred aids to navigation. 

Every conceivable signal and safeguard 
for protecting shipping will be found here in 
actual operation. No other harbor in the 
world approaches it in the completeness of 
its protection. It has been a great labora- 
tory for experiment in producing countless 
devices for safeguarding navigation, and its 
activity to-day is greater than ever. Many 
well-known countries have a far less varied 
equipment. 

The first sign-post of this elaborate sys- 
tem of protection is the Nantucket Light- 
ship two hundred miles east of New York. 
She stands guard before a great area of 
shoals, which in years past have reaped a 
frightful harvest of wrecks. It is one of the 

5 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

most exposed positions in the world. The 
nearest land is forty-one miles away. 

A wreck once occurred near by, and the 
light-ship picked up the crew, but two weeks 
passed before she could get them ashore. The 
light-vessel rides in thirty fathoms of water, 
making it possible for ships to lay their 
course directly for her, which greatly sim- 
plifies their problems of navigation. She 
stands upon one of the busiest ocean lanes 
in the world, and vessels in passing often 
graze her sides. From this vantage-point 
the light-ship extends its protection many 
miles in all directions. 

One of the largest light-ships in the world 
has been chosen for this post, and her equip- 
ment includes every signal device known to 
the modern science of navigation. The Nan- 
tucket measured 130 feet in length, with a 
beam of thirty-five feet, although in the 
lonely waste of the Atlantic she appears 
singularly small. 

The Nantucket displays a white light at 
her masthead. She is equipped with an elab- 
orate radio service both for sending and re- 
ceiving messages. She receives regularly 

6 



HARBOR PROTECTION 

from shore the official government storm 
warning signals and displays them from her 
masthead, and flashes them by radio for 
many miles. In addition to her powerful 
light and radio signals, the Nantucket is 
equipped with a submarine bell signal de- 
vice. It strikes the signal "66," which may 
be read by steamers far at sea. A light- 
ship has stood guard at this point continu- 
ously since 1857. 

The beautiful old sea cry, "Land ho!" has 
lost its significance. It has been anticipated 
by radio signals hundreds of miles offshore.. 
For the incoming vessels the first shore light 
picked up will probably be that of Block 
Island beyond the eastern capes of Long 
Island. The picturesque old tower at Mon- 
tauk Point, where Long Island begins, comes 
next. The ocean lane now skirts the Long 
Island shore for a hundred miles. Here 
ships are guided by the powerful lights at 
Shinnecock, seventy miles east of New York, 
and again by the famous Fire Island signal.. 
The first actual glimpse of land will prob- 
ably be some large building on the low shores 
not far from New York. 

7 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

A continuous line of beacons has been 
placed along the Long Island shore-line on 
the run to New York, so that a vessel inward 
or outward bound is never out of range of 
one or more of them. Before a vessel has 
dropped one light astern, it has picked up the 
next signal. If the effective radius of each 
of these lights be marked with a circle drawn 
from the various lighthouses, it will be found 
that these circles overlap continuously for 
hundreds of miles. The range of the lights 
is, of course, greatly reduced in foggy 
weather or storms. 

All the way down the coast incoming ves- 
sels have probably been in communication 
with the Fire Island Light-ship, which stands 
thirty-four miles off the harbor entrance. 
From this station the radio compass enables 
navigators to lay their courses within less 
than one degree., The floating station has be- 
sides its complement of lights, bells and fog- 
horns, and radio sending and receiving ap- 
paratus. No light-ship occupied this post 
until 1896, when the steamship St. Paul, de- 
ceived by the fog, made a wrong turn and 
went ashore hard and fast on the low sandy 

8 



HARBOR PROTECTION 

beach of Fire Island. The light-ship was 
thereupon anchored here to make assurance 
doubly sure. 

After passing the Fire Island the flash of 
the great beacon at the highland of the Nave- 
sink will soon be picked up. It is visible for 
twenty-six and one quarter miles, although 
the reflection of the light in the sky may 
often be seen for more than twice this dis- 
tance. Two more light-ships, each carrying 
every possible equipment, stand guard near 
the entrance to the harbor; the Ambrose 
Channel and the Scotland Light-ships. 

The radio equipment aboard the Ambrose 
Light-ship makes it possible to lay a course 
for the harbor entrance from a hundred 
miles or more at sea. A similar signal is 
sent out from the lighthouse at Sea Girt on 
the New Jersey coast. With the aid of these 
three radio directions a course may be laid 
with mathematical accuracy. In a recent test 
a ship was guided in toward the Ambrose 
Light-ship from a point forty miles at sea, 
and, running "blindfolded," found herself 
on a course which would have struck the 
light-vessel amidships. 

9 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

With so many guiding signals, the incom- 
ing vessel is completely safeguarded at every 
turn. Every wreck in or about New York 
in the past has taught a lesson, revealing 
some special danger, which has been quickly 
protected. Whether a vessel approaches 
New York from either the north or south, 
or directly from the open sea, it comes within 
range of these guiding signals when many 
miles out. In thick weather, it will be seen, 
special apparatus gives sufficient warning 
and directs the vessel's course. 

The next step is to pick up the entrance 
to Ambrose Channel itself. It is a fairly 
broad target with a width of fifteen hundred 
feet. At the entrance to the channel, and 
just at the center, stands a great light and 
whistling buoy, which enables the navigator 
to lay his course directly. This is the largest 
buoy in the service, and its great bulk ren- 
ders it very conspicuous by day, while its red 
light shines far out over the waters at night. 
In thick weather its automatic fog-signal 
supplements the light. 

Having reached the entrance to Ambrose 
Channel, the approach to the upper harbor is 

10 



HARBOR PROTECTION 

clear sailing. By day or night the great 
pathway, more than one fourth of a mile in 
width, extends invitingly. Many streets are 
less brilliantly illuminated. The boundaries 
of the channel are marked by long lines of 
buoys, which are clearly visible for a con- 
siderable distance. At night the buoys flash 
red and white lights. Should the fog con- 
ceal the lights their position may still be 
located by their bells and fog-horns. These 
various signals are arranged in an interna- 
tional code, so that a foreigner entering 
port for the first time, without knowing a 
word of English, would nevertheless be 
guided safely past every danger. 

As an additional safeguard two powerful 
range-lights are placed dead ahead. The first 
of these, the West Bank Light, is thrown 
from a lighthouse standing far out from 
land. The second is the Richmond or Staten 
Island Light on Staten Island. These lights 
are so placed that when they are sighted in 
line, one being above the other, the vessels, 
in steering for them, will pass straight up 
the channel. 

These range-lights carry the incoming 

ii 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

vessel to the first turn or the elbow of the 
Ambrose Channel. The turn is conspicu- 
ously marked on either side by large gas- 
buoys, displaying flashing lights, which are 
known as the "knuckles" of the turn. The 
second turn of the channel is indicated by 
similar lights. The sides of the channel are 
also picked out by bright red and white lights 
thrown out from large buoys. 

Once past this second turn, the navigator 
picks up two other range-lights. These are 
observed over the stern. The vessel runs 
away from them. Both lights are located on 
Sandy Hook, one known as the North Hook 
Light and the second as the Sandy Hook 
Light. 

By keeping these lights in range, one above 
the other, the vessel may be guided directly 
through the upper reach of the Ambrose 
Channel. As an additional precaution a 
light has been placed on the Craven Shoals. 
These are the last points of danger in the 
lower harbor. Once past them, and guided 
by the range-lights and the channel buoys, 
the vessel proceeds straight on her course 

12 



HARBOR PROTECTION 

through the Narrows into the shelter of 
Quarantine. 

There are at present six navigable chan- 
nels entering New York Harbor. Here is a 
choice to satisfy the convenience of every 
craft. Each of these channels is clearly 
buoyed, while various range-lights enable 
ships to lay their courses independently of 
the buoys. The shallow portions of the har- 
bor are also buoyed with great care, both be- 
low .and above the Narrows. 

In the upper harbor the crowded lights 
along the shores on either hand quickly grow 
more numerous. The most conspicuous light 
in this section is that of the Statue of Liberty 
on Bedloe's Island. The upraised arm of the 
goddess holds a light far above the water. 
The statue meanwhile is brilliantly illumi- 
nated by batteries of search-lights directed 
toward her, which make her quite the most 
conspicuous object in the harbor. 

At the journey's end, after the vessels have 
passed in through the Narrows and satisfied 
the inquisitive inspectors at Quarantine, they 
come under the surveillance of an alert har- 

13 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

bor patrol, which is not the least important of 
the aids to navigation of New York Harbor. 
A large proportion of the incoming ships, 
other than the regular passenger liners, can- 
not find docking space, and are obliged to 
anchor in various positions in the harbor. 

At certain seasons there are hundreds of 
such ships, many of them great liners of ten 
thousand tons or more burden. The great 
channels leading up to New York and 
through the rivers on either side must of 
course be kept clear. A fleet of speedy patrol 
boats is used to patrol the long water-line 
day and night to regulate this traffic. 

The harbor traffic squad must solve a com- 
plicated problem. It is not enough to warn 
ships off a certain course, or order them to 
stop or start, as the policeman on a crowded 
street controls a line of vehicles. Certain 
fixed areas are set aside throughout the har- 
bor as anchorages. The channels, definitely 
marked on the harbor maps, must not be 
encroached upon by a single foot. 

A large vessel at anchor, however, when 
swept about by the tides, occupies a great 
circle, whose diameter is equal to twice the 

14 



HARBOR PROTECTION 

length of the ship plus about twice the length 
of the anchor chain. If the vessels' swing 
is underestimated, they may collide with dis- 
astrous results, or they may swing into the 
channel to be run down by passing craft. 

Each vessel is assigned a definite anchor- 
age, which is determined by taking observa- 
tions on shore. These anchorages are many 
miles in length and are frequently crowded. 
The vessels congregate here from every mari- 
time country, and difference in languages 
often complicates the situation. The regula- 
tion of traffic may have to be carried on by 
sign language. A severe system of penal- 
ties follows any violation of the harbor's 
traffic laws, for the slightest infringement 
in so crowded a harbor may mean loss of life 
and will certainly mean loss of property. 
Special anchorages are set aside for vessels 
carrying explosives, and their passage 
through the harbor must be carefully 
guarded. 

The efficiency of the harbor's traffic squad 
is severely tested when the naval fleets visit 
New York, thus adding perhaps hundreds 
of craft to the fleet already at anchor. One 

IS 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

of these fleets consisted of 272 war craft 
of various types, from the largest super- 
dreadnoughts to the destroyers. Although 
the harbor was crowded at the time with 
merchant ships, anchorages were found for 
the naval fleet ships, and their passage 
through the various channels on either side 
of New York City was so carefully regu- 
lated that the visit was made and the fleet 
departed without the slightest mishap. 

Could Henry Hudson return in the Half 
Moon to-day to the "mouth of that land" he 
discovered, he could find no reason to com- 
plain of the difficulties of the harbor. 



16 



CHAPTER II 

EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

LIGHTHOUSES of some sort are as old 
as ships. Before the oldest books of the 
Bible were written lights were kindled to 
warn ships at sea. Noah on his famous voy- 
age may have sighted these aids of naviga- 
tion if he chanced upon any regular ship 
courses. Lighthouses are mentioned by 
Homer and the earliest writers. Many an- 
cient legends, handed down from still ear- 
lier times, preserve their romantic history- 
The first beacons were probably great bon- 
fires, lighted by primitive tribes early in his- 
tory, to guide homeward the fleets of canoes 
which had gone to sea to fish or to battle.: 
As civilization developed it was found that 
without lighthouses navigation was impos- 
sible. The risk of wrecks on dangerous and 
unfriendly coasts was too great. Countless 
ships must have been destroyed and innumer- 
able lives lost before this obvious fact was 

17 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

realized, and centuries more must have passed 
before men devised warning lights which 
served their purpose. 

The ancients built many remarkable light- 
houses whose names are still household 
words. Two of them at least, the Colossus of 
Rhodes and the Pharos, were among the 
seven wonders of the ancient world — cer- 
tainly a large proportion of the famous seven. 
They were colossal things, which are not 
even approached in size in modern times, 
and they were built to stand for centuries, 
although they were of very little service to 
ships at sea. The lights were very primitive 
and would have been outshone by the simplest 
modern beacon. 

The earliest lighthouses of which we have 
any definite record were those built in lower 
Egypt about the entrance to the Nile. These 
were raised many centuries before Christ, 
and helped to guide great fleets of ships which 
are now forgotten. Only the other day 
models of some of the ancient Nile boats 
were discovered in an Egyptian tomb, which 
show us that shipping so many centuries ago 
was not unlike our own. 

18 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

The rigging of these ancient vessels ap- 
pears shipshape even judged by modern 
standards. The passenger boats on the Nile 
incidentally offered many conveniences, even 
luxuries, of travel. In these ancient models 
we find bedsteads with chairs placed conveni- 
ently at the foot. The ship's steward stands 
near by awaiting orders. An interesting 
modern touch is the traveler's trunk, which 
evidently had been made to fit snugly under 
the bunk or bed. 

We call them steamer trunks to-day, but 
they were used by Egyptian travelers at 
least four thousand years before the uses of 
steam were discovered. The most luxurious 
of the Nile boats even carried orchestras, in 
which the harp was conspicuous, to while 
away the time. With commerce developed 
to such a point, it was natural that great 
attention should be paid to building light- 
houses to safeguard it. 

Some details are preserved of a great light- 
house in the Hellespont built in the seventh 
century before Christ. The history of light- 
houses is commonly considered to begin, 
however, with the famous Pharos of Alex- 

19 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

andria. It was one of the greatest of the 
seven wonders of the ancient world and 
guided countless ships for more than sixteen 
hundred years. No other lighthouse in his- 
tory approached it in size or remained so 
long in service. Great empires rose and ruled 
the world and fell and were forgotten, while 
the light of the Pharos burnt on undimmed. 

The Pharos was built under Ptolemy II, 
who reigned from 283 to 247 b.c. Consider- 
ing its immense size, the building of such a 
tower within this period was a remarkable 
engineering feat. It stood on a small island 
named Pharos at the entrance to the harbor 
of Alexandria. The position was well 
chosen, as was proved by the tower's long life 
of usefulness. 

The Pharos was a great massive square 
tower of masonry, which according to some 
records rose to a height of 460 feet, while 
others claimed a height of 600 feet. It is 
probable that these claims were over-enthusi- 
astic. It seems highly improbable that the 
ancient engineers could have raised a struc- 
ture of solid masonry higher than the 
Washington Monument. It was no doubt, 

20 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

however, a very massive and imposing struc- 
ture. 

The Pharos was a great pyramid; the 
lower part, built of white marble, was square. 
Next came an octagonal tower of smaller 
radius. The third or uppermost part of the 
tower was circular in form. It was deco- 
rated elaborately with many galleries and 
pillars. According to the description left by 
Josephus, the light of the Pharos was visible 
forty miles at sea. The great Navesink Light 
at the entrance to New York Harbor, when it 
had a candle-power of 25,000,000 and mod- 
ern lenses, had exactly this range. 

It seems almost ludicrous to our modern 
ideas that after building such a tower the 
ancients could find no better light for it than 
they did. A great bonfire was lighted on 
its top, which was fed by attendants through- 
out the night. On perfectly clear still nights, 
such a light would be visible for miles out 
at sea, but on such nights the vessels had 
little need for warnings. In foggy weather 
the light could scarcely have been seen even 
at the foot of the great tower. One of our 
modern acetylene lights which often burn 

21 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

unattended for two years at a time would 
have been more serviceable. 

The great Pharos cost eight hundred sil- 
ver talents to build, which would be equal to 
about a million dollars in our own day. An 
inscription carved on its side, which could 
be read for many centuries, ran: "King 
Ptolemy to the "gods, the saviors, for the 
benefit of sailors." An amusing story is 
recorded of the Pharos, a monstrous practi- 
cal joke, which was played successfully for 
centuries. Satratius of Cnidus cut his own 
name deeply in the stone above this famous 
inscription, and filled in the hollow with 
mortar. In time the mortar wore away so 
that the famous inscription when read by fu- 
ture generations ran : "Satratius the Cni- 
dian, to the gods, the saviors, for the benefit 
of sailors." 

The Pharos was thrown down by an earth- 
quake in the thirteenth century. Its ruins 
were visible as late as 1350 a.d. The Pharos 
gave its name to all lighthouses which fol- 
lowed it, so that such a signal is known in 
every language to-day as "pharos." The 

22 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

science of lighthouse construction is accord- 
ingly "pharology." 

The Colossus of Rhodes, which also served 
as a lighthouse, was another of the seven 
wonders of the world. The great bronze fig- 
ure of a man standing astride the harbor 
entrance was certainly an original design 
for a lighthouse, and has never since been 
imitated. There is considerable doubt among 
historians as to whether the figure actually 
stood with a leg on either side of the har- 
bor, while fleets of ships passed beneath. 
The statue was 105 feet in height, so 
that only very small vessels could have passed 
through such an entrance; but the picture 
is an engaging one. 

Many details of this extraordinary light- 
house have come down to us. Its thumbs, for 
instance, were thicker than a man's hand. 
A winding stair led to the top of the statue, 
where on very clear days it was possible to 
see the shores of Egypt. The Colossus was 
erected in 278 b.c. The light consisted of a 
mass of burning coals which were held in a 
"chauffer" in the figure's uplifted hand. 

23 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

A Roman emperor on visiting Rhodes was 
so much pleased with the statue that he or- 
dered a bust of himself to be placed on the 
top of the giant's head, where it must have 
presented a curious appearance. The Colos- 
sus was thrown down by an earthquake in 
224 b.c. It was broken off at the knees, and 
the lower legs continued to stand for many- 
years. As late as 684 a.d. the brass remain- 
ing from the wreck was sold for $180,000, 
a prodigious sum for those days, and a cara- 
van of nine hundred camels was required 
to remove it. 

There were lighthouses along the western 
coast of Europe even before Roman times. 
When the Phenicians ventured past Gibraltar 
into the Atlantic, and sailed up the coast of 
Spain on their way to Britain, they built 
lighthouses on the prominent headlands. The 
oldest lighthouse in the western world stands 
a few miles north of Cape Finisterre. It is 
supposed to have been built by the Pheni- 
cians, although some believe it was built by 
the Emperor Trajan. The tower was rebuilt 
and still stands. It has therefore been burn- 
ing for considerably more than two thousand 

24 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

years and may surpass even the record of the 
original Pharos. 

Later Rome built countless lighthouses to 
safeguard the coasts of her great empire. 
The power of Rome, which came to be felt 
all over the world, was largely dependent 
upon her war fleets and commercial vessels, 
which could not venture far without light- 
houses. As early as fifty years a.d. the Em- 
peror Claudius built the famous tower of 
Ostia. Other famous Roman lighthouses 
stood at Ravenna and Messina. After 
light ; " o the waters of the Mediterranean 
they built lighthouses at the Pillars of Her- 
cules at the entrance to the Atlantic, which 
then guarded the outposts of the known 
world. # 

When the Roman galleys ventured on the 
Atlantic the fleets were soon followed by 
lighthouses to guard them. The Roman 
tower built at Capio is asserted by some Ro- 
man historians to have been as large as the 
famous Egyptian Pharos at Alexandria. 
The English Channel was guarded by light- 
houses in the reign of the Emperor Caligula. 
A tower was raised at Boulogne, and another 

25 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

across the channel at Dover, which still 
stands. It is built of Roman brick, the in- 
terior being square and the exterior octag- 
onal in form. It was covered with brick in 
1259 and a century later was raised to a 
height of forty feet. 

Many European tourists who have crossed 
the English Channel by the Dover-Calais 
route stop off to visit this venerable old Ro- 
man lighthouse. It looks very small and fu- 
tile to-day, but we should not forget that it 
once guarded a busy Roman highway and an 
immense volume of shipping. A fleet of 
eight hundred Roman vessels once visited 
Britain to transport corn to Rome, and this 
was but a part of its commerce. Many of 
the ancient Roman towers were enlarged and 
improved during the middle ages. 

The builders of the old lighthouses knew 
nothing of the modern science of lighthouse 
building, but they contrived to raise struc- 
tures in exposed positions which stood for 
centuries. The earliest wave-swept tower 
now standing is at the mouth of the Gironde 
in France. The light has had a remarkable 
history. Near-by stands a group of rocks 

26 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

which seriously menace shipping. They are 
beaten upon continually by storms from the 
Atlantic and form a very treacherous trap. 
The trade of Bordeaux has suffered from 
this danger from its earliest days. 

The first attempt to light the rocks was 
made in 805 a.d. A tower was built on a 
reef in the harbor, where four men kept a 
fire alight. Each vessel entering the har- 
bor was required to pay a tax to support the 
lighthouse, which was probably the origin 
of the modern practice of collecting light- 
house dues. 

When the Black Prince brought Gascony 
under his control he demolished this beacon 
and built a new tower forty feet in height. 
A hermit lived on top of the tower to keep 
the signal-fire burning. A chapel was later 
built near-by, and a few fishermen built 
huts. When the hermit died no one offered 
to take his place and the light was abandoned. 

The tower now standing at this position 
was begun in 1584. A great French archi- 
tect received a commission to build what is 
the most elaborate lighthouse ever erected, 
before or since. It combines a beacon, a 

27 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

church, and a royal residence, certainly a 
curious assortment of interests. The base 
of the lighthouse is a great stone platform 
134 feet in diameter. 

The lower part of the structure was in- 
tended to form a breakwater to protect the 
main buildings from the waves, which con- 
tinually beat upon it. On the first floor there 
is a magnificent saloon leading to the royal 
apartment, with a great entrance-hall dec- 
orated with pillars and mural sculpture. 
Above is a beautiful chapel with a fine high 
roof. The beacon surmounts the chapel, 
rising to a height of one hundred feet, which 
is reached by a spiral staircase. 

The building is so well constructed that it 
still stands in this exposed position. About 
the year 1800 the original tower was re- 
built on modern lines and the light was 
raised to a height of 197 feet. A modern 
light was installed, which is visible for twen- 
ty-seven miles. The buildings have now 
stood for three centuries. Throughout the 
middle ages, and long after, the builders of 
lighthouses had only the most primitive 
knowledge of lighting, but they lavished time 

28 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

and money in building beautiful towers which 
have never been rivaled. 

A lighthouse was built at Genoa three and 
a half centuries before Columbus set sail for 
America. It was known as "Torre del 
Capo" and was rebuilt in 1643. The light is 
supported by a beautiful tower rising 236 
feet above the cliff on which it stands, the 
light being 384 feet above sea-level. It was 
not until 1841 that modern lenses were in- 
stalled here. 

The development of the lighthouse and its 
light in later times has been one of the great 
achievements of modern engineering. The 
credit for designing a tower which would 
withstand the onslaught of the waves and 
winds is due largely to the English and 
Scotch, while a French scientist was the 
father of the modern lenses which have revo- 
lutionized the system of lighting. 

The dramatic story of the famous Eddy- 
stone Lights well illustrates the persistence 
and ingenuity of modern engineers in solv- 
ing this ancient problem. The Eddystone 
stands fourteen miles off Plymouth, where it 
guards the traffic of this harbor. From the 

29 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

earliest days the importance of a light at 
this point was appreciated, but the work of 
building a tower in so exposed a position 
was baffling. When the Pilgrims sailed from 
Plymouth Harbor in 1620 there was no light 
on the Eddystone to guide them, although the 
problem was even then an old one. 

The first lighthouse was begun at this point 
in 1695 and finished three years later. It 
was polygonal in shape, the base being of 
stone and the upper part highly ornamented 
with galleries, which incidentally offered 
great resistance to the sea stroke. The weak- 
ness of the tower was soon recognized, and 
in the following year the diameter of the 
tower was increased by adding a ring of solid 
masonry. The sea made short work of it, 
however, for it was swept away three years 
later ; and all those in it, including its builder, 
were lost. 

Despite this tragedy a second lighthouse 
was begun in 1706 and finished in two years. 
The tower was cone-shaped and built of 
heavy oak timbers bolted together. The 
lower part was filled in with stone to lower 
the center of gravity. It rose to a height of 

30 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

ninety-two feet. This structure was de- 
stroyed by fire. 

Another tower was immediately com- 
menced. A new experiment was now tried, 
and the structure was made entirely of 
wrought- and cast-iron, the base being left 
open to offer less resistance. Although its 
foundations were deeply sunk in the rocks, 
a storm in 1850 swept it completely away. 

The following year a fourth attempt was 
made. The tower then built was entirely of 
granite, rising to a height of no feet. A 
light was first kindled as its top in 1858. In 
a great storm in the same year a bell weigh- 
ing five hundred pounds hung in its lantern 
gallery one hundred feet above high-water 
mark was carried away by the waves. Many 
of the stones were also loosened. 

The tower was later incased in granite, 
and the light raised to an elevation of 146 
feet above high water. In this tower the 
plan of dovetailing the foundation-stones was 
first employed. The curve of the sides was 
also designed scientifically to withstand the 
shock of the wave stroke. Despite its ex- 
posed position the tower has stood for nearly 

3i 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

seventy years, and has been the standard 
design for lighthouses of this type in all 
parts of the world. 

The intricate problem of designing the base 
of a wave-swept tower which might prove 
more stable than the rock on which it stood 
was solved by the combined efforts of two 
great Scottish engineers, Smeaton and Ste- 
venson. The grandson of the Scotch light- 
house builder, who was also his namesake, 
Robert Louis Stevenson, the novelist, has 
described this achievement with pardonable 
pride. "Stevenson," he writes, referring to 
his grandfather, "corrected such flaws as 
were left in Smeaton's design, and with his 
improvements, it is not too much to say the 
model was made perfect. Smeaton and Ste- 
venson have between them evolved and fin- 
ished the sea tower. No subsequent builder 
has departed in anything essential from the 
principles of this design. It remains, and it 
seems to us as though it must remain for- 
ever, an ideal attained. Every stone in the 
building, it may interest the builder to know, 
my grandfather had himself cut out in model, 

32 



EARLY LIGHTHOUSES 

and the manner in which the courses were 
fitted, joggled, trenailed, wedged and the 
bond broken is intricate as a puzzle and 
beautiful by ingenuity." 



33 



CHAPTER III 



America's first lighthouses 



AMERICA attacked the lighthouse prob- 
lem very early in her history with 
characteristic energy. The shipping along 
our coast has always been menaced at a 
thousand points. Every danger encountered 
on European shores seems to have its coun- 
terpart on this side of the Atlantic, while 
we face many problems in protecting our 
shipping which are peculiarly our own. 

Lighthouses have been built on isolated 
wave-swept reefs in the face of difficulties 
even more baffling than those met abroad. 
America was, besides, quick to adopt im- 
provements in the building and illumination 
of lighthouses and to develop them, and in 
many cases has discarded obsolete methods 
many years before Europe. 

The first American lighthouse was built 
to protect the shipping of Boston Harbor. 

34 



AMERICA'S FIRST LIGHTHOUSES 

Its light was first kindled on September iy, 
171 6. A newspaper of the day announced 
naively that the light "will be very useful 
for all vessels going out and coming in to 
the harbor of Boston." The date was very 
early in the history of modern lighthouse 
building. There were few lighthouses of its 
type even in Europe at this period. The fa- 
mous Eddystone Light, which marked an 
epoch in lighthouse construction, had only 
been standing for seventeen years. 

The first lighthouse keeper in America 
when installed at the Boston Light received 
a salary of fifty pounds ($250) a year, which 
supported him and his family in comfort. 
The light was kept burning and the keeper 
paid out of a fund collected directly from 
the ships which benefited by its warning. All 
vessels inward bound passing the light paid 
a tax of one penny a ton, and another penny 
for passing outward bound. The coasting 
vessels were on a different basis, and were 
obliged to pay two shillings each before 
clearing the harbor. All fishing vessels, of 
which there was a great fleet, were taxed 
five shillings each by the year. 

35 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Two years after the light was first kindled 
the wife and daughter of the lighthouse 
keeper were killed in a storm; and the 
tragedy, the first of its kind in America, 
occurring under unusual conditions, aroused 
great sympathy. It inspired Benjamin 
Franklin, then a boy of thirteen years living 
in Boston, to write a ballad on the subject, 
which he entitled "The Lighthouse Trag- 
edy." With characteristic versatility Frank- 
lin wrote the verses, set them up in type and 
printed them, and then sold them on the 
streets. The poem is not included in the 
works of Franklin, and he probably expressed 
his own judgment of it when he later called 
it "wretched stuff." The lighthouse was re- 
built in 1783. 

While many of the lighthouses of Europe 
still continued to be lighted by candles, the 
Boston Light from the first used oil lamps. 
It is curious to find that the Eddystone Light, 
perhaps the most famous in Europe, con- 
tinued to burn tallow candles after they 
had been discarded in America. By the 
year 1789 the method of lighting had been 
greatly improved and the brilliancy of the 

36 



AMERICA'S FIRST LIGHTHOUSES 

Boston Light was the pride of New England. 
It then consisted of a group of sixteen oil 
lamps placed in groups of four. The crude 
reflectors common to most lighthouses at 
that period were replaced by more modern 
apparatus in 181 1. To-day the Boston Light 
has a candle-power of 100,000 and flashes a 
white light every thirty seconds. 

During the early days of the Revolution 
the Boston Lighthouse was bitterly con- 
tended for by both forces. After the British 
occupied Boston the lighthouse was visited 
by a party of Americans, who burnt all the 
wooden parts and carried away the lamps. 
So important was the light that the British 
lost no time in reconstructing it, and work 
was begun within a few days. Another 
American force thereupon landed, overcame 
the guard, destroyed all the work in prog- 
ress, and carried off the workmen as pris- 
oners. 

It was impossible, of course, to hold this 
exposed position against superior British 
forces. Once more the British occupied the 
lighthouse, and, working under a sufficient 
guard, the light was again restored. When 

37 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

the British evacuated Boston in 1776 they 
lighted a train of powder leading to the light- 
house, which blew up the tower one hour 
after their departure. The metal-work of 
the old lantern was later used during the 
Revolution for cannon-balls. 

The light was again extinguished for a 
time during the War of 181 2. Between the 
constant buffeting of the storms in this ex- 
posed position and its war record, the old 
tower has had a lively time of it. It still 
stands, however, as stanch as ever, and on 
September 25, 1916, its two hundredth an- 
niversary was celebrated when a tablet was 
set in its masonry and unveiled. 

After the completion of the original Bos- 
ton Light thirty years elapsed before the 
second lighthouse was raised in American 
waters. It stood at the entrance to Nan- 
tucket Harbor and was first lighted in 1746. 
The tower was built of wood and was later 
destroyed by fire. This beacon seems to 
have been the unluckiest in the entire history 
of the service, since it has been rebuilt no 
less than seven times. 

As late as 1764 New York Harbor was 

38 



AMERICA'S FIRST LIGHTHOUSES 

without a single warning signal or aid to 
navigation. The first serious attempt to 
light the entrance to the harbor was made 
by the merchants and assembly of New York 
in 1 76 1, when a lottery was authorized to 
obtain funds. Public interest lagged, even 
with this stimulus, and only twenty-six 
pounds were raised for the purpose. An- 
other lottery followed the next year, which 
was more successful. 

In preparing the site, four acres of land 
were bought on Sandy Hook. The light- 
house keeper was allowed the special "privi- 
lege of keeping and pasturing two cows on 
the land." It was further provided that "no 
public house for selling of strong liquors" 
should be erected. A tonnage tax on ships 
was imposed to maintain the light. 

The first lighthouse was finished in 1764, 
and the newspapers of the day proudly 
boasted that it was the "best light on the 
continent" — there were but three others. It 
contained forty-eight "oil blazes," which 
must have had lamps of very little power. 
The tower comprising nine stories and, ris- 
ing to a height of eighty-five feet, was a 

39 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

notable sky-scraper at that time. Origi- 
nally the lighthouse stood at the extreme end 
of Sandy Hook, but in more than a century 
and a half the sea has added to the Hook 
until to-day the old tower stands more than 
half a mile back from the point and far in- 
land. 

The early lighthouses of New York Har- 
bor played an important role in the country's 
history. When the British fleet gathered off 
New York Harbor in 1776 the old lighthouse 
became an important vantage-point. To foil 
the enemy and confuse the fleet a party of 
adventurous Americans dismantled the light- 
house. 

The British landed on the Hook and re- 
stored the light. Shortly afterward another 
party of Americans mounted a small field- 
gun in an open boat, and, braving the British 
fleet, approached Sandy Hook under its guns, 
and bombarded and seriously damaged the 
tower. They were driven back with the 
loss of several men. The historic lighthouse 
still stands although long disused. 

The crude system of coast protection in 
colonial days was slowly extended south- 

40 




Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, Florida 
From a Model 











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AMERICA'S FIRST LIGHTHOUSES 

ward. A stone lighthouse was completed at 
Cape Henlopen at the entrance to Delaware 
Bay in 1764, the same year the beacon was 
lighted at Sandy Hook. The papers author- 
izing this light were signed by Washington. 
The Cape Henlopen Light, like those at Bos- 
ton and Sandy Hook, also suffered during 
the Revolution. The only coast lighthouse 
south of the Delaware capes in colonial days 
was that at Charleston, South Carolina. The 
Charleston Light escaped damage in the 
Revolution but suffered during the Civil 
War. The other lighthouses erected by the 
colonies have since been rebuilt. 

The colonies built in all eight lighthouses 
during the somewhat extended period of 
seventy-three years. Their names and the 
liates of their erection follow : 

Boston, on Little Brewster Island, Massachu- 
setts 1716 

Brant Point, on Nantucket Island, Massachu- 
setts 1746 

Beavertail, on Conanicut Island, Rhode Island 1761 

Sandy Hook, New Jersey, entrance to New 
York Bay 1764 

Cape Henlopen, Delaware, entrance to Dela- 
ware Bay . . . 1764 

Charleston, on Morris Island, South Carolina 1767 

41 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Gurnet, near Plymouth, Massachusetts 1769 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire; entrance to 
harbor 1789 

These early lights were owned and oper- 
ated by the colonies. It must be remembered 
that the wealth of the colonies was trifling 
compared with that of Europe, while the 
commerce depending on these aids to navi- 
gation was but a fraction of that on the coasts 
of Europe, so that America's enterprise in 
the matter was the more remarkable. 

In 1789 Congress authorized the mainte- 
nance of all lighthouses and other aids to 
navigation at the expense of the United 
States. The eight lighthouses maintained 
by the states, and five' others built a little 
later, or thirteen in all, were thereupon 
ceded to the Government. 

The Federal Government was keenly in- 
terested in the coast lighthouses. The first 
twin-tower light erected in America was 
lighted in 1789. It stood at Cape Ann on 
Thatcher Island. The twin towers rose to 
a height of forty-five feet. The two lights 
shining side by side were of course intended 

to throw out a signal which would be dis- 

42 



AMERICA'S FIRST LIGHTHOUSES 

tinctive and impossible to confuse with any 
of the single lights. The plan was very 
enterprising considering the expense of con- 
struction and the poverty of the Govern- 
ment at that period. 

No record of the early lights would be 
complete which did not include the tower 
built in 1755 on an island at the mouth of the 
Savannah River. This tower cannot be 
classed as a lighthouse, however, since it was 
built to serve as a marker, and no light was 
installed. It rose to a considerable height. 

When it was decided in 1790 to light the 
tower, it was necessary to remove seven feet 
from the top. This was the only light in 
America, incidentally, in which candles were 
ever used as an illuminant. It was found 
that the burning oil obscured the light. 
The tower was destroyed in 1792 and re- 
built, and again partly destroyed during the 
Civil War in 1862 and again rebuilt in 1867. 

The picturesque old tower which long 
guarded the treacherous shores at Cape 
Henry, Virginia, at the entrance to Chesa- 
peake Bay, is also standing. It was built 
in 1789, and the brick and stone used in its 

43 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

construction were brought from England. 
Originally it stood at the water's edge. The 
tower is octagonal in form, tapering toward 
the top. 

The sea made land here exactly as at Sandy 
Hook, and the lighthouse was slowly but 
surely isolated. Nearly a hundred years 
were required to complete the work of the 
sea, but in 1870 it was decided that the 
original tower stood too far inland to be of 
service ; and a new tower was built near the 
water's edge and the light of the old tower 
extinguished. 

Cape Hatteras and the Diamond Shoals 
eight miles off-shore, had been the terror of 
navigators from the earliest times. The 
erection of a lighthouse at this point was 
strongly urged by Alexander Hamilton as 
early as 1794. The first tower was raised in 
1798. It was built of stone and had an ele- 
vation of eighty feet — a remarkable struc- 
ture for the period. 

To supplement the tower a light-ship was 
anchored off the Diamond Shoals in 1824. 
The vessel was driven from its moorings 
and replaced several times. After the 

44 



AMERICA'S FIRST LIGHTHOUSES 

wreck of the light-ship in 1827, a period of 
seventy years elapsed before another light- 
ship was anchored in this position. The 
present lighthouse, a brick tower rising from 
a granite base, was completed in 1870. Its 
signal is a brilliant flash repeated every six 
seconds. 

The most unusual of the early lighthouses 
is doubtless that in Charleston Harbor, 
South Carolina. The beacon, a fixed white 
light, shines from the tower of St. Philip's 
Church, which is fortunately located for the 
purpose. The light is clearly visible for 
eighteen miles. It is a range-light enabling 
the navigators to lay their courses accu- 
rately through the main channel of the 
harbor. 

The Federal Government on taking over 
the colonial lighthouse in 1789 found itself 
in control of eight coast lights, but no other 
aids to navigation. Five additional light- 
houses were built in the next few years. In 
1820, when the lighthouses were placed un- 
der the authority of the Treasury Depart- 
ment, the service included in all 325 aids 
to navigation, comprising lighthouses, light- 

45 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

ships, buoys, and other aids. The United 
States Lighthouse Board was organized in 
1852. In 1903 the lighthouse service was 
transferred to the Department of Commerce, 
and in 19 10 the Lighthouse Board was 
abolished and the present Bureau of Light- 
houses established. 



46 



CHAPTER IV 

BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

WAVE-SWEPT lighthouses occupy 
more exposed positions than any 
other class of structures and are obliged to 
resist a greater variety of strains. The 
slender towers, which appear so slight and 
fragile against the vast expanse of sea, will 
resist the onslaught of the wind and waves 
for centuries. They will doubtless outlive 
the solid rocks about them, which slowly but 
surely crumble away. 

To be most helpful for ships running the 
gantlet of rocky shores and hidden reefs, a 
guiding light must often be placed far out 
from land in extremely exposed positions. 
The problem of lighthouse building has been, 
from the first, to build a structure which 
could resist the enormous force of the wind 
and waves. In early times the lighthouse 
builders were unable to solve the problem and 

47 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

frankly evaded it by building only on solid 
land well out of the reach of the sea. 

The building of lighthouses has been re- 
duced by modern engineers to an exact sci- 
ence. Countless experiments have been 
made, often with tragic results. At the cost 
of many lives and enormous sums of money, 
the problem has at last been definitely solved* 
The sea-swept lighthouse is a marvel of in- 
genuity. Its graceful lines and the propor- 
tion of its parts are the expression of con- 
summate skill. 

The force of the waves lashed by the wind 
seems incredible. The exact pressure has 
been carefully measured. The following 
table, which indicates the pressure according 
to the velocity of the wind, will give some 
idea of the difficulties of the problem: 

Velocity of Pressure in 

wind, per pounds per 

hour square inch Description 

i mile .005 Hardly perceptible 

15 miles 1.007 Brisk breeze 

50 " 10.000 High wind 

80 " 26.000 Hurricane 

108 " 46.000 Destructive hurricane 

When the lighthouse is designed, the 

48 



3UILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

maximum force exerted is first calculated.: 
To design a tower which will be stable under 
all attacks, the common center of effort, of 
all these forces, is first determined, so that 
the net weight falls within the outer edge of 
the base. Something of the same problem 
is encountered in building towers and chim- 
neys, but the lighthouse must have greater 
stiffness and rigidity than these, because 
the vibration set up in a great storm will in- 
terfere with the lamps and the complicated 
clock devices and lenses of the lights. 

These wave-swept towers are built if pos- 
sible on rocks, well above the water, which 
offer a secure foundation. It is often neces- 
sary, however, to build upon rocks which lie 
below the water except at low tide. In de- 
signing these foundations and the bases the 
center of gravity is kept as low as possible.; 
The mass of the base is built of stones of 
high density ingeniously dovetailed together. 
Even a base of solid masonry, in which the 
stones are laid in concentric circles, has not 
proved strong enough to withstand the 
stroke of the waves. The dovetailing of the 
stones suggests some Chinese puzzle. They 

49 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

are cut in advance and fitted together and 
secured with concrete. 

The lighthouse tower is not built in its 
familiar form merely that it may appear sym- 
metrical and graceful. The circular form 
offers the least resistance to the wave stroke 
and wind pressure, no matter from what 
direction it may be directed. The lower por- 
tion of the lighthouse tower is exposed, of 
course, to the direct horizontal stroke of the 
water, and is made vertical. 

The upper part of the tower is built in a 
continuous curve in a vertical plane. The 
curve is designed with great care. The wall 
recedes at such an angle that the waves on 
striking its base will be carried quickly up- 
ward and thrown back on themselves, thus 
averting the full power of the stroke. 

If the waves throughout a great storm 
were allowed to beat upon a plain surface, 
their force would carry away the solid ma- 
sonry; but the lighthouse with its curved 
sides, scientifically designed, will, so to speak, 
ride the severest storm in safety. The sur- 
face of the walls is of course kept smooth in 
order that they will offer as little resistance 

50 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

as possible to the water. It is only at the 
top of the tower, above the reach of the 
water, that a gallery is built about the lan- 
tern. Even this gallery, as well as the light 
itself, is designed to offer as little resistance 
to the wind as possible* 

The height of the lighthouse is determined 
largely by the force of the waves which rise 
about its sides. The light must be kept 
above the broken water or even the sea spray 
of the severest storms. It chances that the 
lighthouse towers built to satisfy all these 
exacting demands are usually very graceful 
structures, but the result, it will be seen, is 
purely accidental. 

The famous Minot Light which guards 
Boston Harbor is one of the great sea-rock 
lighthouses of the world. The importance 
of a light at this point was recognized for 
generations before engineering skill proved 
equal to the task of construction. In a single 
year forty vessels were wrecked on the Co- 
hasset Reefs nearby, and on six of these all 
on board were lost. The reefs have taken 
a toll of many thousands of lives and hun- 
dreds of millions of dollars' worth of prop- 

5i 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

erty from the shipping of Boston Harbor. 

The stories of the building of the great 
lighthouses at Eddystone, Bell Rock, and 
Skerryvore in exposed positions far off shore 
are among the most thrilling chapters in the 
history of navigation. But the site of the 
Minot Light was in some ways more difficult 
than any of these. The construction in 
this exposed position of a tower which had 
defied the storms of the Atlantic for more 
than sixty years is perhaps the greatest 
achievement in the long history of lighthouse 
building. 

Much of the reef on which the Minot Light 
stands is covered even at low water. It was 
only possible to land on the rock during the 
low spring tides when the sea was espe- 
cially smooth. Under the most favorable 
conditions of season, wind, and weather only 
a small area of the rocks is exposed. They 
lie one and one fourth miles off shore, and 
are directly exposed to the storms of the 
Atlantic. Most of the time the rocks are com- 
pletely covered with water, and in storms the 
waves bury them to a depth of many feet. 

It was decided at first not to attempt to 

52 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

build a lighthouse of solid masonry in so 
exposed a position. A design prepared by 
Captain W. H. Swift was finally accepted 
for a lighthouse consisting of a skeleton iron 
structure which would offer a minimum re- 
sistance to the waves. The reefs were ex- 
plored with great care and soundings made 
throughout the region. It was finally de- 
cided to build on a chisel-like edge of the 
rocks which is exposed at very low spring 
tides. The ledge never rises above the water 
to a height of more than three and a half 
feet and is then about twenty-five feet in 
length. 

In this first attempt nine piles were finally 
built on the reef and upon these were erected 
the lantern and the light-keeper's quarters. 
The entire structure rose to a height of sixty 
feet. The lighthouse was completed in 1848. 
Three years later, during a spring gale which 
beat upon the lighthouse for four days with 
great force, the entire structure slipped out 
of sight into the sea. During the storm 
watchers from shore saw the light suddenly 
extinguished. It was then ten o'clock. It 
was impossible to reach the reef in the storm, 

53 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

and the lighthouse keeper and his companion 
were beyond assistance. 

A crowd stood on the shore more than a 
mile away watching throughout the night. 
The light did not return, but at one o'clock 
the bell of the lighthouse was distinctly heard 
above the storm. When daybreak came, 
nothing was visible from shore. The 
tragedy of the long night, and the curious 
signal of the bell, remained a mystery. Both 
the keepers were lost. 

Still undiscouraged, the engineers made a 
new survey of the reef and decided to build 
a masonry tower on the general lines of the 
famous Eddystone Lighthouse. The bits of 
iron left from the foundations of the first 
towers were removed and foundations pre- 
pared for the new structure. It would be 
hard to conceive a more difficult place to 
work. No matter how smooth the sea, the 
men were in constant danger of being washed 
off the rock. 

It was found necessary to build an iron 
frame over the rock from which many stout 
ropes always dangled within reach of the 
workers. A lookout was posted to watch for 

54 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

sudden waves. The moment he sighted a 
wave sweeping toward the reef he would 
blow his whistle. At the signal the men 
would instantly drop their tools, grab the life- 
lines, throw themselves flat upon the rock 
and allow the water to pass over them. Once 
the waves had swept past, the men would be- 
gin work again. Throughout this period 
the men worked almost continuously in sod- 
den clothes. 

Three years of hard work under these 
perilous conditions were needed before a 
single stone of the foundation of the light- 
house could be laid. Two years were re- 
quired to drill the holes for the pile which 
secured the foundation. A series of holes 
was drilled to a depth of five feet and into 
these wrought-iron piles were securely 
wedged. 

The stones to form the round column of 
the tower were prepared on shore to inter- 
lock or dovetail together. In this way the 
tower gains the strength of a single stone in 
resisting the immense pressure of the waves.., 
Again and again a sudden storm or even the 
moderate rising of the wind would unexpect- 

55 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

<edly bring a flood of water, causing the work- 
men to fly for their lives and destroying in a 
few minutes the work of weeks. 

During an entire year there were but 130 
working hours in which men could carry on 
construction. Every conceivable precaution 
was taken to safeguard the workmen. No 
one was employed on the rock who could not 
swim. During the years the work went 
forward, whenever the workmen landed on 
the rock, two or more boats were kept con- 
tinuously on the lee side of the rocks, ready to 
pick up any one who was washed off into the 
sea. In building the famous Eddystone 
Lighthouse under similar conditions it was 
much easier to land on the island and the 
working hours were much longer. 

Under the most favorable conditions the 
reef was never quite free of water, and 
great trouble was experienced in laying the 
stones under such conditions. The engineers 
finally hit upon the expedient of bringing 
bags of sand to the reef and building a dam 
about the foundation. These bags fitted into 
the irregularities of the rocks, and formed a 
fairly efficient defense against the sea. As 

56 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

the water leaked in or swept over the top 
of these ramparts, it was hastily bailed and 
sponged out. 

When it came time to lay the stones in 
cement a new obstacle was encountered. 
Again and again after the cement had been 
spread, a sudden wave would overtop the 
sand-bag fort and undo the work. With 
Yankee ingenuity the workmen finally hit 
upon a surprisingly simple plan for outwit- 
ting the sea. When the mortar was in place 
it was covered over with a sheet of coarse 
muslin, which kept it in position even if swept 
by water. The cement quickly penetrated the 
muslin, and the foundation-stones could be 
lowered to this base without being disturbed. 
In two years there were but 287 working 
days on the reef, but the men made the most 
of their opportunity. 

Five years were required to complete the 
tower. The total cost of erection was about 
$300,000, which makes it one of the costliest 
lighthouses in the service. It rises to a total 
height of 102 feet, which renders the beacon 
visible far out to sea. Notwithstanding the 
care with which it had been designed and 

57 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

constructed, the tower was watched for sev- 
eral years with anxious attention. The force 
of the northeast gales which beat upon it with 
especial fury was particularly dreaded. It 
has now stood, however, for more than two- 
generations and successfully combated the 
worst gales the sea could muster against it. 

In some localities the water has been too- 
deep for the method employed at the Minot. 
Cribs have therefore been laboriously filled 
with stone and capped with concrete and 
other masonry to serve as a foundation. 
When the bottoms are hard but not rocky, 
lighthouses have been built on piers. The 
foundations are often secured, again, by be- 
ing bolted securely to the rocks on which they 
stand, even at considerable depths. In build- 
ing on low marshy land blocks of concrete are 
often placed upon a network of timbers. 
In building at the entrances to harbors it is 
often possible to utilize the ends of break- 
waters or pierheads. The lighthouse must 
as a rule be as compact as possible. 

When a caisson is used for supporting a 
lighthouse a cylinder is constructed from 
twenty to thirty-five feet in diameter com- 

58 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

posed of iron plates. These are sunk by 
dredging, or by pneumatic process in the 
shallow water, until a firm foundation is ob- 
tained, when the interior is solidly filled with 
concrete. In some cases caissons have been 
placed on rocks or ledges. 

The caisson types of lighthouse founda- 
tions are comparatively modern. The first 
pneumatic caisson was built at Fourteen- foot 
Bank in Delaware Bay. There are to-day 
forty-six caisson lighthouses standing on 
caisson foundations, for the most part on the 
North and Middle Atlantic coasts. 

There are at present twenty notable ex- 
amples of wave-swept lighthouses in the 
United States rising from ledges of rock or 
hard bottoms, as follows : 

First district: 

Saddleback Ledge, Maine 
Halfway Rock, Maine 
Ram Island Ledge, Maine 
Whaleback, Maine 

Second district: 

The Graves, Massachusetts 
Minot's Ledge, Massachusetts 
Bishop and Clerks, Massachusetts 

Third district: 

Race Rock, New York 

59 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

New London Ledge, Connecticut 

Stratford Shoal, New York 
Tenth district: 

Toledo Harbor, Ohio 
Eleventh district: 

Port Austin, Michigan 

Spectacle Reef, Michigan 

Stannard Rock, Michigan 

Rock of Ages, Michigan 
Twelfth district: 

White Shoal, Michigan 

Racine Reef, Wisconsin 
Seventeenth district: 

Tillamook Rock, Oregon 
Eighteenth district: 

St. George Reef, California 

Mile Rocks, California 

American engineers often follow a novel 
design in building wave-swept lighthouses. 
Instead of cutting foundations in the 
rocks in exposed positions and raising 
towers of solid masonry to battle against 
the waves and wind, they evade the problem 
by building an open-work steel base which 
offers the minimum amount of resistance. 
These lighthouses are known as the screw- 
pile lights. The support is obtained by drill- 
ing into the floor of the sea, and forcing 
down steel rods and screwing them into the 
ocean bed. 

60 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

The pile or steel rod is made with a broad 
flange at its end, which makes the rod vir- 
tually an auger. This is bored into the sea 
bed until it has reached a sufficient depth to 
fix it securely and rigidly in place. The pile 
can of course be bored into the bed of the 
sea at any desired angle. The foundations 
are elastic, and in case one of the steel beams 
should be broken it may be easily replaced. 
The first screw-pile lighthouse in the United 
States was built in the Delaware River in 
1850. 

Despite the skill and daring of these 
lighthouse engineers there are still several 
dangerous points along our coast which defy 
their efforts. Several attempts have been 
made, for instance, without success to build 
lighthouses on the outer Diamond Shoals off 
Cape Hatteras. Cape Hatteras, as all the 
world knows, is the most dangerous point 
along our native coast-line on either ocean. 
The toll of ships wrecked in these waters 
since the colonial days has been staggering. 

It was decided that the only plan of secur- 
ing a foundation for a lighthouse at this 
point is by sinking caissons. The problem 

61 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

has so far absolutely baffled engineering 
skill. The roughness of the water makes any 
work over the Diamond Shoals extremely 
hazardous. Under the most favorable con- 
ditions it is impossible to find more than a 
few hours of calm weather at a time. The 
sea bed is, besides, very soft, and absorbent, 
making it impossible to gain any foundation 
which would withstand the terrific poundings 
of the waves. 

An elaborate attempt was once made to 
sink a caisson over the shoals. A mammoth 
structure was built especially for the pur- 
pose and towed out to a favorable position. 
Workmen were found who were willing to 
face the peril of entering the caisson in so ex- 
posed a position. A fleet of boats with sup- 
plies of all kinds stood by. The great bulk 
of the caisson, which weighed several hun- 
dred tons, was tossed like a cork in the cur- 
rents and was soon broken to pieces by the 
pounding of the waves. Although several 
attempts have failed, the ingenuity of engi- 
neers will doubtless in time solve the prob- 
lem. 

Most of the older towers were built of 

62 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

brick or stone masonry, while the stairways 
leading to the top, the lantern, and other 
permanent equipment were of cast-iron. The 
latest development in lighthouse designs is 
to discard the masonry towers and even the 
metal framework and erect reinforced con- 
crete towers. 

The Fourteen-foot Bank Lighthouse is one 
of the greatest victories of the service engi- 
neers. There are just fourteen feet of water 
covering these dangerous shoals, which lie 
about twenty miles offshore. For genera- 
tions they have been feared by mariners, for 
the position was exposed and difficult to 
avoid in thick weather. Fourteen feet is a 
great deal of water to overcome in building 
a great lighthouse, but very little for a ship's 
channel. Many ships have gone aground on 
these banks, and twenty miles is a long dis- 
tance to cover in open boats in bad weather. 

A great caisson, forty feet square and with 
a depth of five feet, was first built of heavy 
timber. The sides and top were lined to 
make it water-tight. It was then loaded with 
concrete, giving it a weight of four hundred 
tons. Two powerful sea tugs were used to 

63 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

tow it out from the mainland, the distance 
being covered at a rate of three miles an 
hour. The caisson was sunk, but it refused 
to go down in a vertical direction. Again 
and again it was straightened up, but each 
time it tilted to an angle of twelve degrees. 
Working so far out at sea even in compara- 
tively smooth waters the task was extremely 
hazardous. 

It was decided that more weight was es- 
sential, and while one of the tugs held the 
caisson in position another rushed ashore for 
more ballast. It was found necessary to 
bring out six thousand tons of stone before 
a firm hold could be secured on the bottom. 
The air compressors were then started. A 
shaft five feet in diameter at the center of the 
caisson permitted the workmen to descend 
and lay the foundation for the lighthouse. 

The picture is an unusual one. Certainly 
the courage of the workers was of high or- 
der. Far out of sight of land they must 
descend to the bed of the sea, when a chance 
storm, so common in these waters, might 
sweep away their base of supply, and leave 

64 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

them to suffocate far from any possible as- 
sistance. 

An unusual ice problem was encountered 
in building the lighthouse at the Brandywine 
Shoals in Delaware Bay. The shallows here 
lie in an exposed position eight miles from 
the sea in the path of the great commerce of 
the Delaware River. It was decided that the 
best plan for resisting the immense pressure 
of the ice floes at this point was to build a 
formidable barrier about the lighthouse, in 
such a way that the shock of the floes could 
be distributed. 

The beacon itself stands at the center of 
a group of nine iron legs set in a circle about 
it. Around this in turn thirty heavy iron 
piles were screwed into the sea bed. These 
measure twenty-three feet in length and five 
inches in diameter. The row is connected at 
the top by a metal-work, which serves to dis- 
tribute the pressure of the ice from whatever 
angle it is driven. 

An ungainly-looking structure is the Fow- 
ery Rocks Lighthouse, which guards the 
northern part of the Florida reefs, throwing 

65 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

its rays out over the waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico. There is, of course, no ice here to 
contend with. The coral reef it guards is 
covered with but three feet of water. This 
unique tower rises to a height of one hun- 
dred feet above the water. It was made by 
three different contractors, and assembled 
in this lonely position at sea. The tower rests 
on piles driven deep into the coral. When the 
piles were in position a platform covered 
with tents was erected on top for the work- 
men. 

The position was very perilous, for a wave 
might clear the deck at any moment. Sev- 
eral boats stood by throughout this period of 
the construction to take the men off. The 
supports rise from a broad base, which gives 
it a curious sprawling appearance. The spa- 
cious deck for the lighthouse keepers is situ- 
ated well above the water, so that the storms 
rage directly beneath the floor of the light- 
house keepers' home. 

The necessity of building exactly over a 
reef is less pressing to-day than formerly. 
The problem is met by increasing the power 
of the lights at near-by lighthouses, so that 

66 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

the dangerous area is protected. The per- 
fection of radio signals has made it possible 
to completely safeguard these danger points. 
Warning signals may be thrown out if neces- 
sary for hundreds of miles beyond the dan- 
gerous coast, giving warning to approaching 
vessels hours in advance. 

For more than fifty years the United 
States has helped to keep a light burning at 
Cape Spartel in Morocco. It is the only 
lighthouse outside the boundaries of the 
United States in which the Government is 
actively interested. The light was placed at 
this point in 1867, following a joint agree- 
ment between the United States, Morocco, 
Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Great 
Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and 
Sweden. The expense of erecting the light- 
house was met by Morocco, but all the other 
contracting powers have since helped to keep 
the light burning. America's contribution 
every year, incidentally, is $325. The Mo- 
rocco light is not under the control of the 
lighthouse service. 

Throughout its long history the light- 
house service of the United States has been 

67 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

supported by the Government, and its thou- 
sands of aids to navigation have been free 
for the ships of all nations. In many foreign 
countries to this day there is Still a system of 
light dues, by which the ships of many na- 
tions contribute to the support of the lights. 
America's record is a unique one, of which 
the country may well be proud. 

The highest lighthouses in the service are 
as follows: 

Height top of 
lantern 
above base, 
Station in feet 

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina 200 

Hog Island, Virginia 191 

Cape Charles, Virginia...' 191 

Pensacola, Florida 171 

Absecon, New Jersey 170 

Cape May, New Jersey 1 70 

Mosquito Inlet, Florida 168 

Cape Fear, North Carolina 166 

Fire Island, New York 163 

Cape Henry, Virginia 163 

Barnegat, New Jersey 161 

St. Augustine, Florida 161 

Shinnecock Bay, New York 161 

Currituck, North Carolina 161 

Cape Lookout, North Carolina 161 

Bodie Island, North Carolina 161 

Charleston, South Carolina 161 

Cape Romain, South Carolina 161 

68 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

Height top of 
lantern 
above base, 
Station in feet 

Dry Tortugas, Florida 157 

Sombrero Key, Florida 153 

A lighthouse, even the smallest of them, 
will well repay a visit. If you have the op- 
portunity, do not fail to explore the great 
wave-swept towers, the more remote the 
better. The ancient romance of the sea 
clings to every stone of these graceful struc- 
tures. The living quarters, ingeniously ar- 
ranged in a series of circular rooms, one atop 
another, perhaps in ten or more layers, have 
a peculiar fascination for the landsman. 

There is a rigid rule observed throughout 
our fifty thousand miles of coast-line that 
persons outside the service are not permitted 
to occupy any premises belonging to the 
lighthouse service. If you have visited a 
lighthouse you may have observed that no 
souvenirs, not even a picture post-card, are 
ever offered for sale in the lighthouses. No 
articles, says the law, may be exposed 
for sale; no traffic or trade is allowed to be 
carried on. 

69 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

The law provides, however, that all visi- 
tors shall be received with courtesy and may 
be admitted in limited numbers to lighthouses 
at prescribed hours when they will not con- 
flict with the regular duties of the keepers. 
The total number of visitors in the course 
of a season is surprisingly large. More than 
ten thousand persons visit the Absecon 
Light Station at Atlantic City every season. 

No lighthouse is ever commonplace. In 
the great majority of cases the light-keeper 
and his family live in a house separate from 
the light tower. These quarters are always 
furnished by the Government. There are 
at present about nine hundred homes pro- 
vided for lighthouse keepers and depot tend- 
ers. In the offshore stations women and 
children are not permitted to live because of 
the hazard in landing, and the same rule ap- 
plies to many of the lights where the living 
accommodations are specially restricted. 

There is no standard type or design for the 
homes of lighthouse keepers. A home which 
would be considered comfortable on the coast 
of Alaska for instance would not be popular 
in Florida. The houses in higher latitudes 

70 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

have steam heat and hot water, an unheard- 
of luxury in the lighthouses of other coun- 
tries. These homes are made to conform as 
far as possible to the local conditions, and 
their architecture to harmonize with that of 
their general locality. There is a great va- 
riety of styles between the houses in Maine 
or Alaska, the Great Lakes, Florida, or the 
semi-tropical regions of Hawaii and Porto 
Rico. 

The homes of the lighthouse keeper are as 
a rule very comfortable. The high narrow 
towers necessary in wave-swept positions, 
while extremely picturesque, present unusual 
problems for the light-keeper's wife. The 
rooms are necessarily circular in form, and 
often with a very small diameter. Each 
floor of the tower can therefore contain but 
a single room, arranged one on top of an- 
other, to be reached by steep iron ladders. 
Life in such a tower is like living in a sky- 
scraper without an elevator. 

Most lighthouses consist of a tower and a 
dwelling-house of timber or brick construc- 
tion. In most cases the tower alone is of 
masonry, while the dwelling is frame. The 

7i 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

keeper and his family as a rule enjoy all the 
comforts of a well-equipped, modern subur- 
ban house. The towers of the important 
lights, however, are detached from the dwell- 
ings, and are of fire-proof construction. The 
chance of fire is perhaps small, but in the 
exposed and isolated positions occupied by 
most lighthouses fire is difficult to fight. 
The service takes no chances with the great 
light towers and guards against any possi- 
bility of their failing even for a limited period 
to discharge their important duties. 

Since there are upward of a thousand 
lighthouses, the total population of course 
runs to several thousands. In many cases 
the lighthouses, although always more or 
less remote, are fairly convenient to local 
schools. The service keeps a watchful eye 
upon the growing children of the lighthouse 
keepers' families. Inquiry is made from 
time to time to determine if any children of 
school age are living in the remote light- 
houses, which are out of touch with schools. 
The children in these lonely lighthouses are 
encouraged to study. In filling vacancies 
for transfer the presence of children be- 

72 



BUILDING THE LIGHTHOUSE 

tween five and sixteen years of age is con- 
sidered, and whenever it is possible they are 
placed in lighthouses convenient to schools. 

All light-ships and inaccessible shore 
lighthouses have been provided with libraries 
since 1876. The books are selected with 
care, including a fair proportion of fiction, 
with other books of a general educational 
nature. Large supplies of literature are 
continually coming from various sources for 
the crews of light-ships and lonely light- 
house stations. At times there is even an 
embarrassing wealth of such material. 
Aboard the light-ships and tenders the sup- 
ply must be carefully watched for fear that 
it accumulate and become a fire menace.. 



73 



CHAPTER V 

DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

FOR thousands of years the only light 
used for warning ships at sea was that 
of burning wood. The Egyptians built the 
highest lighthouse in the world, which was 
to stand for sixteen centuries, but the bonfire 
they kept alight at its top would probably 
not have satisfied a modern boy on election 
night. The fire was often held in braziers 
to keep it from being blown away in high 
gales. The method was costly, wasteful, and 
ineffective. In later times coal was used, 
but without adding much carrying power to 
the warning lights. 

The great enemy of the early lights was 
the wind. When a gale blew offshore, the 
fire burning in the open grates was naturally 
very bright on the sea side and correspond- 
ingly dark toward shore. When the wind 
blew in from the sea the situation was re- 

74 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

versed. With the wind offshore ships were 
in less danger of being carried on to hidden 
dangers, and yet it was then that the fire in 
the lighthouse burnt at its maximum bril- 
liancy. 

Let a storm blow in from the sea, however, 
endangering ships, and the light was bright- 
est on the short side and visible only for a 
short distance over the water. In a high 
wind the fire would be fanned to such in- 
tensity that the metal bars of the braziers 
would be heated to incandescence, while the 
fire itself would appear dark. The light- 
house keepers observed this effect for cen- 
turies without finding any solution for the 
problem. The fires in early times were 
tended by priests or hermits and the service 
was looked upon as a religious duty. Later 
the fires were kept alight both by private and 
public enterprise. There was great objec- 
tion to building lighthouses among the na- 
tives on many coasts, because they kept 
wrecks away and deprived the population of 
a large, but uncertain, income. 

In time the use of coal supplanted that of 
wood in lighthouses. The expense of keep- 

75 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

ing up large coal fires every night through- 
out the year was often a serious considera- 
tion. The large grates consumed many tons 
of coal a year. Although the coal fires were 
very unsatisfactory they were used as late 
as 1822 in England, and in remote places un- 
til 1848. The increase in commerce, and the 
value of ships and cargoes at this period, 
made it imperative that better lights should 
be devised to protect them. 

The first light other than coal fires in 
lighthouses was supplied by tallow candles. 
A chandelier was devised consisting of twen- 
ty-four tallow candles, weighing two fifths 
of a pound each, which gave a light of 2.8 
candle-power. The chandelier, which re- 
sembled a gigantic birthday cake, consumed 
tallow at the rate of 3.4 pounds an hour. 
This "brilliant" illumination was first in- 
stalled at Smeatous Light. 

Oil-burning lamps with flat wicks were 
used at Liverpool as early as 1763. Twenty 
years later the cylinder wick was invented. 
This provided a continuous current of air 
through the lamp, which assured better com- 
bustion. Multiple-wick lamps came next in 

7 6 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

turn. Later the mineral oil lamp was in- 
vented. Coal-gas was first used for illu- 
minating purposes in 1837. The gas was then 
canned, so that it could be made in one place 
and consumed in another. The development 
of gas illuminating apparatus developed very 
quickly. The electric light was used experi- 
mentally in 1858 and practically in 1862. 

The new methods of increasing the power 
and reliability of lights were quickly adopted 
in America. Although America's first light- 
house at Boston used oil lamps from the first, 
while the burning of coal and candles long 
continued in Europe, the installation re- 
mained very crude. The lights were then 
inclosed in a lantern consisting of a heavy 
wooden frame, which held small thick panes 
of glass. The lantern was improved some 
years later by the addition of a rough re- 
flector and a crude lens or magnifier. The 
whole was inclosed in a heavy wrought-iron 
lantern with panes about twelve inches 
square. 

The improvements were very slow in mak- 
ing their appearance. Gradually, however, 
the frames of the old lanterns were made 

77 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

lighter and the panes larger, and more ade- 
quate ventilation was provided. The prob- 
lem of throwing out a light of equal power 
in all directions was solved at the time by 
placing sets of from eight to twenty lamps 
side by side around the circumference of a 
circle., It was more than a century before 
an effective light, judged by modern stand- 
ards, was developed. Meanwhile the num- 
ber of lighthouses rapidly increased, and 
many problems in illumination were solved. 

Great strides were made in developing the 
reflectors of lighthouses, and the power of 
the lights was soon multiplied many times. 
In the early forms the light was reflected by 
means of small facets of silvered glass set 
in plaster of Paris. A crude arrangement of 
such reflectors was used as early as 1763. 
The next step was the use of spherical me- 
tallic reflectors. The immensely powerful 
lights of recent times, however, are made 
possible by passing the light rays through 
optical glass, which concentrates them. 

The modern reflector system was origi- 
nally devised by a Frenchman, Augustin 
Fresnel, about 1822. The apparatus consists 

78 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

of a many-sided lens which incloses the lamp, 
the light being set at the exact center. The 
lens is built up of glass prisms. By this 
arrangement the light is concentrated by the 
prisms into beams which may be seen very 
much farther than an ordinary light. 

The first lens used in America was in- 
stalled at the Navesink Light, New Jersey, 
in 1 84 1. When the Federal Lighthouse 
Board was established in 1852 one of its 
first acts was to install modern scientific 
lenses generally in lighthouses throughout 
the service, and by 1859 this work had been 
virtually completed. Marvelous improve- 
ments have since been made in the design 
and arrangement of the lanterns and the 
lenses. To-day modern lenses are in use in 
all important stations along our entire coast- 
line. The lanterns are constructed in a num- 
ber of sizes corresponding to the order of 
the lenses. The standard type of frame in 
use to-day is built up of cast-iron and bronze 
bent to the curvature of the lantern, and it 
supports the lozenge-shaped panes of curved 
plate-glass. 

The largest lens in use in the lighthouse 

79 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

service is that at Makapuu Point, Hawaii, 
for guiding vessels bound from the United 
States to the Hawaiian Islands. It is classed 
as belonging to the hyper-radiant order. 
The lens has an inside diameter of nearly 
nine feet, and is inclosed in a lantern sixteen 
feet in diameter, or about three times the 
height of the average man. 

There are at present nearly eight hundred 
lenses of various sizes in use in the service. 
Even the smallest and least complicated of 
these lenses are bewildering to the layman. 
The advance from the primitive candle or 
lamp, with its simple reflector, to these im- 
mensely complicated lenses seems almost in- 
credible. The exact power of the light mag- 
nified by the lenses is measured and ex- 
pressed in bewildering equations, which 
leave the layman greatly impressed with the 
scientific knowledge of the officers of the 
lighthouse service who construct them, and 
of the men in countless lighthouses who can 
operate them. 

In the case of range-lights a somewhat 
different system is employed, which is known 
as that of range reflectors. A range-light, 

80 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

it may be well to explain, is employed to mark 
the axis or center of a channel. Two lights- 
are usually used for the purpose, and are 
placed apart, usually with the rear light 
higher than the forward one, so that a vessel 
in the center of a channel will see both lights 
in line in the same vertical plane. The re- 
flectors used for range-lights are usually 
formed of silvered metal, similar- to the head- 
lights of locomotives. Special glass lenses 
with prismatic reflectors are also used for 
range-lights. 

The modern optical apparatus does much 
more, however, than extend the effective 
range of the lights. By means of these ar- 
rangements of lenses the rays of light are 
in some cases concentrated into a belt of 
light, which is distributed evenly around the 
horizon. This is only employed in the case 
of fixed lights. The rays may again be con- 
centrated into a pencil or cone, which is di- 
rected toward the horizon. This pencil may 
be revolved slowly or quickly, producing the 
familiar flashing light. The light may again 
be condensed into a vertical plane. 

Countless experiments have been made 

81 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

with various illuminants since the days of 
coal fires and tallow candles. In the early 
days of American lighthouses sperm oil was 
used, but, as the whale catch gradually dimin- 
ished, the price of the oil became prohibitive., 
It was replaced by lard oil, which became the 
standard light until 1878, when kerosene 
came into use. Gradually the use of the new 
oil was extended to all branches of the ser- 
vice, and by 1885 ft was tne principal illumi- 
nant and has ever since remained such. 
Scores of other illuminants have been tried 
and found wanting. 

The lamps have also undergone many 
changes in more than two centuries. The 
first lamps in the old Boston Light were 
known as spider lamps and had solid wicks. 
The standard lamp in use to-day is of a spe- 
cial form employing concentric wicks, five 
wicks being used in the largest lamps. In 
the important lights an incandescent oil- 
vapor lamp is used which burns vaporized 
kerosene under an incandescent mantle. 

The brightness of the light is consider- 
ably increased by this device without in- 
creasing the oil consumption. The kerosene 

82 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

is stored in a tank of convenient size, and is 
forced by compressed air into the vaporized 
chamber of the lamp. The pump is operated 
by hand, and is so contrived that a few 
strokes of the pump, once or twice in the 
night, will maintain the required pressure, 
thus greatly simplifying the vigil of the light- 
keeper. 

Every known illuminant seems to have 
been used at one time or another in the 
lighthouse service. Both the incandescent 
and arc electric lights are used to-day. They 
are found serviceable on pierheads, or on 
structures built in the water which can read- 
ily be reached by cable. They would be 
used much more extensively if reliable sup- 
plies of current could be found. The great 
advantage of the electric light is of course 
that it can be turned on and off by a switch. 
Coal-gas lights are also used in special cases. 
Oil-gas is used very extensively for lighted 
buoys, and acetylene gas for unattended 
lights. 

The following table will show, however, 
the great preponderance of the kerosene 
wick. This table does not include the lights 

83 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

on the three river districts, which, in addi- 
tion, use more than eighteen hundred kero- 
sene wick lanterns : 

Incandescent oil vapor 288 

Kerosene wick 2067 

Acetylene 516 

Oil-gas 418 

Coal-gas 4 

Electric incandescent 56 

Electric arc 6 

Along our sea-coast all lights burn 
throughout the year, coming on at sunset and 
disappearing at sunrise. The same practice 
is followed on the Northern lakes. Most of 
the lights of Lake Michigan are exhibited at 
all seasons.) 

There are closed seasons, however, in 
some regions where because of ice or weather 
conditions there is virtually no navigation. 
The months of December, January, Feb- 
ruary, and part of March are usually the 
closed or darkened season in these regions. 
It is common in some places to replace the 
gas-buoys and use unlighted buoys during 
the winter months, when they are likely to 
be carried away by ice floes. All lights in 

84 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

these regions are turned on as early as is 
practicable in the spring. 

The early lights along our coasts were all 
of the fixed type. The most practised eye 
was unable to identify one from another. A 
vessel approaching the shore which was un- 
certain of its position would be warned by 
these lights, but would get no information 
whatever as to their identity. To-day a 
navigator can recognize a light with the same 
certainty with which he recognizes a human 
face. The signals of no two lights are the 
same, even when sighted miles out at sea. 

The lights are divided into eight classi- 
fications, and each in turn can be varied in- 
definitely. These are: 

1 Fixed lights. 

2 Revolving lights. 

3 Flashing lights, 

4 Colored lights. 

5 Intermittent lights. 

6 Intermittent lights of unequal period. 

7 Group flashing lights. 

8 Fixed lights illuminating the whole horizon 

but intermittent over certain areas. 

The devices employed for varying the 
character of these great lights are highly in- 

85 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

genious. To produce the familiar flashing 
light the entire lens, with its prisms for con- 
centrating the rays into beams, is revolved 
about the light. In the case of a lens ten or 
fifteen feet in height, weighing several tons, 
a very powerful but delicate mechanism is re- 
quired for its operation. It is of course es- 
sential that this great bulk shall move with- 
out the slightest variation, or the delicate 
focus of the lenses will be distributed and 
the power of the light diminished. 

In occulting lights some form of traveling 
screen or shutter is used. The lens is usually 
moved by weights wound over a drum, the 
whole mechanism being regulated by clock- 
work. By the use of this mechanism the 
light may show a single flash at regular in- 
tervals, or show a fixed light, from time to 
time varied by a single flash of greater bril- 
liancy. By changing the time of the length 
of these flashes the signal can of course be 
varied indefinitely. 

The group flashing lights are sent out at 
regular intervals in groups of flashes. The 
occulting lights show a steady light, which 
is suddenly and totally eclipsed at fixed in- 

86 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

tervals. A very distinctive signal is made 
possible in the case of the group occulting 
lights, which show a steady light which in 
turn is suddenly and totally eclipsed two 
or more times at regular intervals. 

An entirely different series of signals is 
obtained by changing the color of the light 
from white to red in various combinations. 
This is done by moving a red screen before 
the light. When gas or electricity is used, 
the supply of gas or current is turned off and 
on at intervals by a specially designed 
mechanism. 

Some difficulties are encountered in recog- 
nizing many of these lights at a distance.. In 
a light alternating red and white the red 
does not carry as far as the white light. At 
a considerable distance only the signals made 
with the white light will be visible. Under 
some weather conditions, again, white light 
will take on a reddish hue, and when it al- 
ternates with the red light there is chance 
for confusion. Allowance must also be 
made for the curious trick light has of fad- 
ing away and not being sharply cut off at 
the edge of visibility. 

87 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

That the lighthouses may be distinctive in 
daytime as well as at night, they are fre- 
quently built in distinctive designs, which 
may be recognized far out at sea. This is 
of course the reason for painting them in 
bold colors with bands of black or white, or 
spirals. 

The classification of lighthouses in Ameri- 
can waters according to the nature of their 
lights is as follows: 

Fixed white 1316 

Fixed red 864 

Flashing or occulting 1050 

Fixed and flashing 69 

It is extremely difficult to judge the dis- 
tance a light will carry at sea. As a gen- 
eral rule the visibility of a light depends, 
of course, upon its height and intensity. The 
distance a light is visible because of its height 
is known as its geographic range. The dis- 
tance due to the light's intensity is known as 
its luminous range. The luminous range is 
usually greater than the geographic range. 

The following table showing the geo- 
graphic range of lights will be found inter- 
esting : 

88 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

Visible nautical 
Height miles 

5 2.5 

25 57 

50 8.5 

75 • • • 9-9 

100 1 1.7 

150 14. 

200 16. 

500 25. 

1000 36. 



The highest light in the service is at Cape 
Mendocino, California, where the focal plane 
or center of light is 422 feet above the sea. 
The geographic range of this light is there- 
fore twenty-four miles under normal con- 
ditions. The brightest light in American 
waters is at Navesink, New Jersey, at the 
entrance to New York Harbor. It is placed 
in a tower on the highlands of the Navesink 
and has a geographic range of twenty-two 
miles. It is clearly visible under normal con- 
ditions twenty-six miles at sea, but under 
unusual atmospheric conditions it has been 
sighted fifty miles out. 

The height of the principal lights along 
our coasts are shown in the following table ; 

89 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Feet 

Cape Mendocino, California '422 

Makapuu Point, Hawaii 420 

Farallon, California 358 

Culebrita, Porto Rico 305 

Muertos Island, Porto Rico 297 

Point Reyes, California 294 

Point Sur, California 270 

Cape San Juan, Porto Rico 260 

Cape Blanco, Oregon 252 

Annuu Island, Samoa 250 

Navesink, New Jersey 246 

Cape Hinchinbrook, Alaska 235 

Cape Disappointment, Washington 233 

Mona Island, Porto Rico 231 

Staten Island, New York 231 

Chapel Hill, New Jersey 221 

Cape Meares, Oregon 220 

Kilauea Point, Hawaii 216 

Alvatraz, California 214 

Molokai, Hawaii 213 

Grand Island, Michigan. . -. 205 

Heceta Head, Oregon 204 

Block Island Southeast, Rhode Island 201 

Many engineers in the lighthouse service, 
both in America and in Europe, believe that 
the modern light has reached its maximum 
of power and efficiency, and that the candle- 
power will not be further increased. Sev- 
eral experts in America confidently predict, 
indeed, that the great lights are doomed, and 
will eventually be much reduced in power 

90 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

and perhaps entirely abandoned, because of 
the recent development of the radio com- 
pass. The rapid development of this newest 
aid to navigation and its installation at many 
points is described in detail in another 
chapter. 

A new use for the super-radiant light has 
been found meanwhile for lighting the air- 
ways on land. The problem of supplying 
beacons for aviators is somewhat different 
from that of installing lighthouses at sea. 
Since the speed of aircraft is so much greater 
than that of ships, and the airways are often 
crowded at different levels it is important 
that the beacons be as powerful as possible 
and effective over the longest possible range. 
Unlike a vessel at sea an aeroplane on losing 
its way or being confused by thick weather 
cannot anchor and lie to until the weather 
clears. 

The forerunner of the great lights of the 
future is probably that recently built on 
Mount Africa near Dijon. It is especially 
designed to assist night flying. The light 
has a candle-power rating of one million and 
can be seen by aviators two hundred miles 

9i 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

away. The geographic range of a light- 
house at sea is of course limited by its eleva- 
tion. Even the lights of the tallest light- 
houses are cut off by the horizon twenty or 
thirty miles away. There is no such diffi- 
culty, however, in aerial lighthouses, since 
the fliers high in air are not troubled by 
the curvature of the earth. It is simply a 
question how far the rays of light can be 
projected. 

An interesting experiment with land 
beacons has recently been carried on in 
America to devise signals of great carrying 
power which will also be distinctive. A 
thirty-six-inch high-intensity search-light, 
similar to those used in the navy, was em- 
ployed for the test. The light remains sta- 
tionary and is directed on a mirror set at 
an angle of forty-five degrees, which in turn 
directs the light perpendicularly into the sky. 

When this mirror is rotated the light, 
pointing upward, is of course given a ro- 
tary motion. The character of the beam of 
light can therefore be varied indefinitely. 
These beacons could thus be placed at inter- 
vals of one hundred miles along a great air- 

92 



DEVELOPING THE LIGHT 

way, and the air pilot would have no trouble 
in distinguishing one from another, and thus 
ascertaining his position, although the earth 
below him were obscured by darkness. 

There seems to be a great difference of 
opinion as to the position of the most power- 
ful lights. It is very generally believed that 
the Navesink Light at the entrance to New 
York Harbor is the most powerful in the 
world. It has in fact never held this relative 
position, although it is the most powerful 
light in American waters, on either the 
North or South American continent. 

Until a few years ago the light was equal 
to twenty-five million candle-power. Even 
at that time, it was outclassed by a few lights 
in Europe. The maximum power of the 
light at Heligoland was forty-three million 
candle-power, while the French maintain a 
lighthouse on the African coast which is as- 
serted to have a light of one billion candle- 
power. 

The most powerful light ever constructed, 
it is believed, was one used experimentally 
at New York, It developed 1,500,000,000 
candle-power* It was planned to have this 

93 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

monster light point upward and swing 
through a limited arc. In the tests the light 
was clearly visible in Philadelphia, ninety 
miles distant, and under favorable conditions 
at an even greater distance. 

The light is believed to have been the most 
powerful in the world. Such lights are nat- 
urally very expensive to install and maintain. 
The development of the radio compass, it 
is believed, will make it possible to send out 
signals far more cheaply and more effec- 
tively. 



94 



CHAPTER VI 

A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

BY a fortunate chance the highlands of 
the Navesink at the entrance to New 
York Harbor are the highest ground along 
the Atlantic coast for a thousand miles, and 
offer an ideal pedestal for a great lighthouse. 
Nowhere else along our far-flung coast-line 
: sa guiding light in such demand. 

It is the first light of the harbor to be 
picked up by the great fleets inward bound 
for New York from all quarters of the At- 
lantic. For millions of travelers it has been 
for a generation the first signal from Ameri- 
can shores. The Government has wisely- 
chosen this post for establishing the most 
powerful light in American waters. 

The seaward slopes of the highlands rise 
abruptly from the sandy shore-line to a con- 
siderable height. The road which leads up 
the hills, with many sharp turns, reaches the 

95 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

summit after a short but stiff climb. The 
lower slopes are dotted with summer cot- 
tages and hung with gardens. Above this 
zone there is a stretch of rough woodland, 
when the road suddenly opens upon the well- 
kept lawns of the reservation about the fa- 
mous light. The lighthouse itself is a mas- 
sive structure of brown stone almost the size 
of a State capitol, with great towers flanking 
either end. It was built in 1862, evidently 
with due appreciation of its importance for 
the future. 

Originally lights were lit in both towers, 
making it a twin light. Later it was decided 
that a single light of immense power was 
more serviceable, and the second light was 
extinguished; but the second tower is kept 
ready for an emergency. In this spacious 
dwelling live the families of three light- 
keepers, with no danger of crowding. The 
Government takes no chances in providing 
attendants for the most important of its 
beacons. 

As is the habit in the service, every detail 
of the lighthouse was obviously in the most 
perfect order and at the highest state of 

96 



A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

efficiency. The group of buildings includes 
a power-house with a battery of dynamos 
which were used in generating current for 
the 25,000,000-candle-power light when it 
was operated by electricity. These are held 
in reserve at present and light is supplied 
much more cheaply and efficiently by oil 
vapor. 

The towers are massive structures built 
of rough brown stones, rising to a height of 
sixty feet, which gives the light an elevation 
of 246 feet above the sea. A visitor passes 
through several large rooms on the lower 
floor of the building to the south tower, 
which is the one now lighted. 

The circular space at the base of the tower 
is surprisingly restricted because of the 
great thickness of the tower walls. From 
this level an iron stair climbs about the inner 
wall of the tower. Light is admitted through 
narrow windows cut through the three feet 
of solid masonry, which forms the walls, 
suggesting the embrasures for cannon in a 
very deep fort. The whole structure seems 
built as though for a siege. 

After many turns of the steep iron stair- 

97 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

case one reaches an upper floor, also of metal, 
which is almost completely filled by the cir- 
cular base of the great light itself. There 
is just room to pass around this base, which 
is of very massive construction, suggesting 
the pedestal of a great telescope. The lower 
levels of the tower are in comparative dark- 
ness, since the light must find its way through 
the deep, narrow windows. It is from this 
twilight that the visitor suddenly emerges 
upon the gallery surrounding the great light 
which looks out upon the sea. 

The view from this uppermost gallery is 
enchanting. The entrance to the harbor lies 
far below in a great panorama. To the 
south stretches the shore-line of the New 
Jersey coast, populous with summer homes. 
The surf draws a line of white as far as 
the eye can see. The curious lines of Sandy 
Hook extend to the north, while to the west 
lie the broad curves of the Lower Bay. Far 
out to sea one can see the Scotland and Am- 
brose light-ships standing guard at the outer 
harbor entrance. 

At night one can see the lights of Coney 
Island across the bay, and even the light of 

98 



A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

the sky-scrapers in lower New York, about 
twenty miles away. At any hour of the day 
or night great fleets of ships are continually 
passing both inward and outward bound. 
Throughout the day the Navesink tower is 
but a detail of the landscape, but with dusk 
every eye in the great harbor will be turned 
toward it. The light which will presently 
be kindled will be visible over a thousand 
square miles of waters. 

The greatest surprise in visiting the upper 
tower comes when one turns to the light it- 
self. No one had told us that the great hy- 
per-radiant lens of a modern lighthouse is 
one of the most beautiful things in the world. 
It is impossible to find a simile. A diamond 
as large as the lens would be perhaps more 
dazzling, but it would be less rich and varied 
in color. This immensely complicated set of 
lenses, measuring five feet in diameter and 
nine feet in height, towers high above one's 
head. About the central bull's-eye are ar- 
ranged in successive circles no less than 386 
separate lenses, great ribbons of cut glass 
three or four inches in width, the largest 
of them thirty feet in circumference. 

99 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

And these ribbons, thousands of yards of 
them, seem to flutter with every color of the 
rainbow. In every prism one catches a 
glimpse of the colors of the spectrum., 
Change your position, or that of the lens, 
ever so slightly, and successive waves of color 
dance across the face of the lens. 

Later, one is impressed by the amazing 
complication of these lenses and the skill with 
which they have been assembled. Even the 
layman realizes that the angle of each of 
these hundreds of complicated glass lenses 
must be adjusted with mathematical accu- 
racy to catch and bend the light rays to pro- 
duce that miracle, the modern sea beacon. 

This great structure of glass and copper 
may be swung with the touch of a finger. 
The circular base passed on the climb to the 
tower is filled with mercury, and the weight 
of the lens is turned in this at a touch, and 
in perfect silence. The lenses of the early 
lights, even the largest of them, were 
mounted on rollers. Although this mecha- 
nism worked with wonderful smoothness the 
friction was necessarily great, and consider- 
able power was required to start the lenses ro- 

ioo 



A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

tating and to keep them in motion. In the 
modern apparatus before us the lenses rest 
on a turn-table, which in turn rests upon a 
bed of mercury held in a great circular 
trough. 

This contrivance is much more compli- 
cated than it may sound. The great hyper- 
radiant lens with its turn-table weighs up- 
ward of ten tons. The base on which the 
lens floats contains nearly five tons of quick- 
silver. The entire apparatus is so carefully 
designed and constructed that the great 
weight of the lens not only turns with great 
ease but is held steadily in position, guarding 
against the slightest vibration or oscillation. 

The lens rotates through the night with a 
steady, uninterrupted swing, driven by a 
clockwork contrivance protected by a glass 
case. The light-keeper winds this up from 
time to time. In case of accident to this 
mechanism there is an emergency adjust- 
ment which enables the attendant to turn the 
light by hand. 

There are three possible sources of light, 
all of which are kept ready for use. Should 
one fail for any reason, there would still 

IOI 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

be two substitutes available. It is inconceiv- 
able that by any series of accidents the most 
powerful of our lights should long be 
dimmed. The electric power plant is no 
longer used although it is kept in readiness* 
The light developed in this way was equal 
to twenty-five million candle-power, or more 
than thirty times the power of any other light 
in American waters. 

The light behind the great lenses at the 
Navesink to-day is supplied by burning oil 
vapor. The apparatus is very simple. The 
oil is carried to the top of the tower in 
metal cylinders, which are placed on the 
upper gallery beside the lens. A small tube 
of copper, about one quarter of an inch in 
diameter, is strung from these containers like 
an electric wire to the ceiling of the tower, 
and then down through an opening in the 
top of the lens to the lamp at the center. 
The vapor is supplied by increasing the pres- 
sure of air in the cylinders by means of a 
small pump. A pressure of sixty pounds 
suffices. 

The lamp itself seems out of all propor- 
tion to the power of the light produced. It 

102 



A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

is scarcely larger than a family reading- 
lamp. The vapor burns under four large 
mantles, which are heated to incandescence. 
One often sees lamps as brilliant in large 
rooms and public places. The light from 
the vapor has a peculiar brilliance which 
lends itself to the purpose. 

When this light burns at the mathematical 
center of the lens a flash of light is developed 
of 750,000 candle-power. A supply of three 
thousand gallons of oil is kept on hand 
in the lighthouse, which is sufficient to keep 
the great light burning for about a year. 

Should any accident befall the vapor lamp, 
the light could be relit with only a few sec- 
onds' interruption. It would be only the 
work of a moment to lift the lamp from its 
place at the center of the lens, and replace 
it with an incandescent electric bulb. The 
lighthouse tower is wired for the purpose. 

A supply of such bulbs is always kept on 
hand. In case both the vapor lamp and the 
electric light failed, the light-keeper would 
return to first principles and use an oil-burn- 
ing lamp. Such a lamp exactly adjusted 
to the lens is kept filled with oil and the wick 

103 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

trimmed, in case a series of catastrophes 
should put the other lighting systems out 
of commission. It is inconceivable in any 
event that the light should be dimmed for 
many seconds. 

The Navesink Light is one of the most 
distinctive beacons in the world. Once seen, 
it will never be forgotten. The most care- 
less observer could not mistake it for any 
other light. Seen from any point at sea, far 
or near, it seems to sweep the horizon with a 
sharp blinding flash, which passes literally 
in a twinkling. The flash lasts for exactly 
three tenths of a second. It has been happily 
called a "flash of artificial sheet-lightning. " 

The lens is double, consisting of two lenses 
placed back to back. In one revolution of 
the lens, therefore, two flashes are shot out 
through the open window of the tower. The 
lenses are, of course, very jealously guarded. 
No one is allowed to touch the light. The 
complicated mass of glass is polished every 
day by experienced hands, and is always 
kept shining with the brilliancy of a mirror. 

The first flash of the Navesink Light 
sweeps the horizon promptly at sunset. On 

104 



A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

very dark or stormy days it may be turned on 
somewhat earlier. Long before it is turned 
on, experienced hands have overhauled every 
detail of the complicated machinery to make 
sure that it is in perfect working order. The 
lamp is lighted about fifteen minutes ahead 
of time, that it may be properly heated up 
and burning flawlessly. The shining lenses 
are swept once more to remove the least 
particle of dust. 

Before the light is turned on every one in 
the tower must fit himself with very dark 
glass spectacles. It is extremely dangerous 
to look at the light without this precaution 
even when reflected against black walls. The 
full glare of the light is blinding. With the 
keeper thus protected, the mechanism which 
will revolve the great lenses throughout the 
night is wound up. The air-pumps develop 
just the right pressure in the light tanks. 
The substitute lights, and the other parts 
which may by any chance be needed in case 
of a breakdown, are looked to and are placed 
within easy reach. 

As the light from the lamp inside the lens 
rises, the brilliancy of the rays from the 

105 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

lenses, even as seen through darkened glass, 
becomes painful. The inner walls of the 
tower are painted black to reduce as far as 
possible the reflection. When the springs 
at the base of the lens are released the entire 
mass begins to revolve, sweeping the light 
about, directing it alternately against the 
black walls of the tower and a moment later 
through the open window far out to sea. The 
only sound is a slight swishing noise, which 
is probably caused by the sweep of the len? 
moving through the air rather than by the 
faultless mechanism. 

As the piercing shaft of white light, with 
the swing of the lens, first comes into view, 
one involuntarily draws himself together 
with tensed muscles for the crash of thunder 
which it seems must follow. One gets some- 
thing of the same impression in a thunder- 
storm when a great flash of lightning sud- 
denly appears in one's line of vision. The 
effect is commonly described as blinding, and 
one closes his eyes for some seconds after- 
ward to quiet his nerves from the shock. 

In the lighthouse the effect is almost con- 
tinuous. You find yourself looking straight 

1 06 



A NIGHT IN A LIGHTHOUSE 

through the heavily smoked glasses and care- 
fully avoiding a side glance around their 
edges, as you would dodge a pain. Viewed 
from any point outside the tower there is a 
flash of three tenths of a second and an 
eclipse of two seconds, but inside the light- 
house tower there is no such period of relief. 
The complicated mechanism moves so 
smoothly that it is possible to talk in the tower 
in an ordinary conversational tone. The 
light-keeper explains that the flash is visible 
more than twenty-six miles away at sea. In 
other words, the light before us may be 
watched at this moment from any point in 
more than a thousand square miles of dark- 
ened waters. As the hours pass the dazzling 
lens turns and turns about the narrow room 
in perfect silence, while its piercing rays con- 
tinually sweep the distant line of the horizon. 



107 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FOG MENACE 

EVERY sea traveler aboard vessels large 
or small will recall very vividly any 
experience he has had of foggy weather. As 
the fog drifts in, the sea, which has been 
silent for days, suddenly becomes alive with 
the raucous voices of fog-horns. Let the fog 
thicken, and the engines are slowed down, 
and lookouts posted at the ship's prow and 
the masthead. At frequent intervals the 
ship's fog-horn, somewhere overhead, raises 
its voice, drowning every other sound 
aboard, and making it necessary to suspend 
all conversation until it subsides. Despite 
the skill of modern navigation and the mul- 
tiplication of safeguards of every kind, this 
ancient terror of the sea is still potent. 

On the ship's lanes or in harbors the fog 
never fails to start a surprising number of 
these warning calls. To the fog-horns 

108 



THE FOG MENACE 

aboard ships are added the warning signals 
of the fog sirens of shore stations. The 
effect is bewildering. At one moment the 
sound grows suddenly faint, while with the 
next blast it is increased tenfold. The posi- 
tion of the horns, again, seems to shift unac- 
countably. To the inexperienced ear the 
effect is unaccountable, and even the experi- 
enced sailor will not trust the signals when 
it is possible to take soundings or other ob- 
servations. 

It is well known that sound is conveyed 
irregularly through the atmosphere, and that 
a thick fog plays curious tricks with sound- 
waves. The power of the sound varies ab- 
ruptly. The sound-waves may be slowed up 
on striking a particularly thick belt of fog 
and may be suddenly accelerated in a thin 
area. As a result, sound may be hushed a 
short distance from the signal, or it may 
carry much farther in one direction than 
another. All these changes may occur in a 
few seconds. It is not uncommon for a 
sound heard in a fog to become extremely 
faint near its limit of audibility, while at a 
greater distance it will grow very distinct. 

109 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

The curious tricks of sound in a thick fog 
have been compared to the movement of a 
flat stone when it is "skipped" across the 
water. Like the stone, the sound from a 
fog-horn or bell signal may seem to strike 
the water and suddenly rebound high in the 
air, and at a considerable distance farther 
on descend again to the water and again rise, 
repeating the skipping action indefinitely. In 
the areas between the spots where the sound 
strikes the water and rebounds, the signal 
may appear very faint or may even be en- 
tirely lost. Since there is no regularity in 
the spaces in this skipping the navigator can 
only proceed by guesswork. Although a 
sailor does not depend implicitly on the fog 
signal, its warning voice at least tells him 
that he is near danger. 

For more than two centuries fog signals 
of some kind have been sounded along our 
coast. The service at present operates 578 
such signals. The first fog signal in America 
was the firing of a cannon at the Boston 
Light as early as 17 19. The cannon was 
discharged at more or less regular intervals 
in thick weather. Later, guns of various 

no 



THE FOG MENACE 

types were used at other stations, but the 
plan was finally abandoned. 

For a time it was thought that the steam 
whistle had solved the problem. A five-inch 
whistle was installed at Beavertail Rock, 
Rhode Island, as early as 1855, and later this 
was operated by a hot-air engine. The whistle 
was then increased to a ten-inch whistle of 
the locomotive type, which gave an eight- 
second blast every minute. This was the 
most powerful apparatus of its kind yet de- 
vised, and it is still considered a fairly effi- 
cient signal. Its great fault was that it was 
often confused with the whistles of passing 
steamers and besides could not be set going 
as quickly as was desired. 

An entirely new contrivance for develop- 
ing these piercing notes was invented by an 
American engineer, C. L. Daboll. For some 
time his contrivance led all others in the 
volume and carrying power of its signal. 
Daboll used a trumpet of unusual size, meas- 
uring seventeen feet in length, with a 
diameter at the mouth of thirty-eight 
inches. The sound was made by a tongue 
of steel, about ten inches in length, acting as 

in 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

a reed, which was placed at the lower end 
of the horn. 

Air was compressed and then allowed to 
escape suddenly through the horn, which 
caused the reed or iron tongue to vibrate 
The noise which was followed was by no 
means musical, but it came out in amazing 
volume and possessed remarkable carrying 
qualities. The modern gas-engine was, of 
course, unknown at that date, and the air 
was compressed by power developed by the 
primitive expedient of placing a donkey on 
a treadmill near-by. 

It was found impossible to install the new 
invention in many wave-swept lighthouses 
where it was most needed, since there was 
no room for the donkey. When the Ericsson 
hot-air engine appeared it was utilized for 
operating the fog-horn mechanism, and the 
fog signal was installed at many points., 
Other reed horns built on similar lines ap- 
peared later. These were operated by com- 
pressed air, or driven by gasolene engines.; 
Many of these are still in use, although they 
are, as a rule, not noisy enough for the sea- 
coast. 

112 




Combined Light and Whistling Buoy 




Bell Buoy after a Collision at S 



ea 




Line-Throwing Gun 




Complete Apparatus of Oil Vapor Lamp for Lighthouses 



THE FOG MENACE 

The fog-bell which is still rung in many 
places was introduced very early. Fog-bells 
were rung at first by hand in answer to 
similar signals from vessels at sea. Later 
the size of the bell was increased until to-day 
there are many bells in commission weighing 
as much as four thousand pounds. Instead 
of striking the bell by hand, an ingenious 
device operated by clockwork strikes a regu- 
lar code. But even these great bells will not 
carry far enough out to sea in thick weather 
to be effective, although they are still em- 
ployed to some extent in inside waters and 
harbors. 

The siren, which strangely belies its name, 
was first invented in 1867, and sent out its 
warnings from Sandy Hook, East Beacon. 
The original siren consisted of a fixed disk 
with slits radiating from its center. A 
second disk with the same arrangement of 
slits was revolved back of this, while steam 
was driven at high pressure through both, 
and emitted from a horn at one end. The 
apparatus gave a wailing note of surprising 
carrying power. The arrangement of disks 
has been changed in later sirens, and com- 

113 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

pressed air has been substituted for steam, 
giving a more distinctive note. 

A disk having twelve slits and rotating 
at a rate of three thousand revolutions a 
minute obviously sets up thirty-six thousand 
vibrations a minute, which is sufficient to 
develop a piercing note of great power. In 
the old forms the siren could not be started 
in less than ten or fifteen minutes, or often 
much more, while the new forms start almost 
instantly. 

The fog signal is frequently controlled 
electrically from a considerable distance. 
This makes it possible to place it far out on 
a jetty, a breakwater, or other inaccessible 
place. In some cases the siren is controlled 
by means of a submarine cable of consider- 
able length. The lighthouse keeper, perhaps 
miles distant, can set the siren to work by 
merely closing a switch. 

Tests have been made with many different 
shapes of trumpets for throwing out sound- 
waves. The vertical mushroom trumpet has 
been found to distribute the sound evenly to 
all points of the compass. Experiments are 
now being carried on with great promise of 

114 



THE FOG MENACE 

success with an acetylene fog gun. The ap- 
paratus fires an explosive mixture of air and 
acetylene gas by means of an electric spark. 

Among the countless experiments to de- 
vise new aids to navigation the most fantas- 
tic was doubtless an attempt to utilize the 
blowing holes of the Farallones Islands to 
serve as a fog-horn. The islands lie in the 
Pacific Ocean forty miles from San Fran- 
cisco Bay and in a fog belt where signals are 
much needed. At a very early date in the 
history of the commerce of the Pacific coast, 
an elaborate attempt was made to harness 
these curious blowing holes and set them to 
work to protect shipping. Since the blow- 
ing holes were always in operation it was 
thought that something like perpetual mo- 
tion had been discovered. 

A chimney was built over the rocks di- 
rectly above the opening. The air from the 
blowing holes was compressed by the waves 
and forced through a locomotive whistle at 
the top of the chimney. The scheme, fan- 
tastic as it seemed, worked beyond all ex- 
pectations. The force of the air carried 
away the chimney, whistle and all. A sec- 

n.5 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

ond attempt was made by building a stronger 
chimney, with gratifying results. 

A very loud, hoarse whistle was thrown 
out by this amazing automatic device, which 
continued day and night and was audible 
for many miles. The next time the rocks 
were covered by a fog, however, and when 
the whistle was most needed, it was silent. 
It depended upon the force of the waves 
and a high sea to keep it in action, and 
during the fog, when the signal was needed, 
the sea was calm and the automatic whistle 
was shut off. The perpetual-motion fog- 
horn was afterward replaced by a siren of 
more conventional form. 

The rocket also makes it possible to com- 
bine light and sound signals, and under cer- 
tain conditions is an extremely effective 
signal. The development of the rocket for 
use at sea has been carried much further 
than most landsmen realize. The familiar 
rockets and Roman candles used in Fourth 
of July and other celebrations are mere toys 
by comparison. Rockets are made for use 
at sea which will rise to a height of a thou- 
sand feet, which is the height of the Eiffel 

116 



THE FOG MENACE 

Tower in Paris, and twice that of the Wash- 
ington Monument, and several hundred feet 
higher than the tallest sky-scraper in the 
world. In careful tests the explosion of 
these great rockets has been heard for 
many miles. 

While a ship at sea may dbserve a light, 
or pick up the signal of a bell or fog-horn, it 
may not be able to judge its distance from 
these stations. In heavy storms or fogs the 
problem is especially baffling. Many at- 
tempts have been made to devise some plan 
of giving a ship at sea its bearings. In one 
of these the radio signal and submarine bell 
combined to enable a navigator to measure 
the distance from the sending station. 

In these experiments a definite signal was 
sent out at the same instant both from the 
submarine bell and the radio. The wireless 
message of course travels instantaneously, 
or very nearly so. The rate at which the 
submarine bell signal travels through the 
water is of course known. The navigator, 
it was thought, could take the time between 
the arrival of the two signals and readily 
ascertain his distance from the sending 

117 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

station. The plan is an excellent one in 
theory, but the average sailor has no skill or 
patience for such calculation, and the highly 
ingenious invention was abandoned. 

The proportion of foggy to clear weather 
days is much greater than the landsman 
realizes. The foggiest point on our entire 
shore-line appears to be Seguin, Maine, 
which has about twenty-seven hundred 
hours of fog a year, which is about 30 per 
cent, of the entire time. On the Great Lakes 
the record is held by Calumet Harbor near 
Chicago, where twenty-two hundred hours 
of fog are recorded a year. The highest 
record on the Pacific coast was observed on 
the San Francisco Lightship with twenty- 
one hundred foggy hours a year.. 



118 



CHAPTER VIII 

LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

SEEN from shore or a ship's deck, the 
buoys seem no larger than the float on 
one's fishing-line. The conical tops so com- 
monly used, with their bright colors, and the 
same trick of bobbing about in the water, 
heighten the illusion. Once out of their 
native element the buoys are found to be sur- 
prisingly bulky and complicated. Like the 
icebergs, the greater part of the body is 
under water. An ordinary light-buoy drawn 
out on land, for instance, will dwarf the 
average touring automobile placed beside it. 
The United States Lighthouse Service 
maintains about eight thousand buoys of all 
types. No other country is guarded by any 
such number. Buoys are used for the most 
part to mark shoals or other constructions, 
to indicate the approaches to channels or the 
fairway passage through the channels, and 

119 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

for marking the boundaries of anchorages. 
Buoys of various forms are scattered along 
thousands of miles of our inland waterways. 
They are the most familiar, as they are the 
most numerous, of all aids to navigation. 

The first buoys, like the floats of fishing- 
tackle, were made of solid wood or built up 
with staves like barrels. When the crude 
beginnings of our lighthouse service were 
taken over by the Federal Government in 
1789, there were a few such buoys at the 
entrances of the principal harbors. Wooden 
buoys are still doing service especially in in- 
side waters. The standard buoy to-day is 
constructed with iron or steel plates securely 
bolted together, and their life is naturally 
much longer than the wooden forms. 

Like other aids to navigation in use to- 
day, the buoys are the result of a long evolu- 
tion, and represent an immense amount of 
study and experiment. They are divided 
broadly into two general classes, those which 
are lighted and those which are not. Less 
than 5 per cent, of all buoys are illuminated. 
The average landlubber will be surprised to 
learn how systematically these thousands of 

120 



LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

buoys are distributed, and the amount of in- 
formation they give to navigators. All the 
buoys along our coast and in bays and har- 
bors, sounds and channels are colored and 
numbered. The language of the buoys is 
unmistakable and makes it possible for ves- 
sels on first entering strange waters to find 
the channel and gain at a glance all the in- 
formation desired about the harbor. 

A vessel on passing up the coast, or a 
sound, or upon entering a bay, or channel of 
any kind will invariably find red buoys bear- 
ing even numbers, placed on the starboard 
side. Black buoys with odd numbers will 
always be on the port side. The navigator 
of the vessel may not be able to understand a 
word of the language of the country he is 
approaching, and may be navigating its 
waters for the first time, but the interna- 
tional language of the buoys is clear and 
unmistakable. Following their silent direc- 
tion the strange vessel may successfully 
navigate the most tortuous channel. 

Besides indicating the channels the buoys 
will give a surprising amount of informa- 
tion, which he who runs may read. The 

121 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

buoys without numbers but bearing black 
horizontal stripes may be passed on either 
side, and indicate the presence of rocks, 
shoals, and other serious obstructions, which, 
however, have channels on either side of 
them. When the buoy has no number and is 
marked with black and white perpendicular 
stripes, it indicates the mid-channel and may 
be passed, in the nautical phrase, close-to. 
There are other buoys marking abrupt turn- 
ings or denoting the presence of obstruc- 
tions. That these may not be mistaken they 
are fitted with perches or staves surmounted 
by balls, cages, or other distinctive designs. 
Buoys with similar marks are placed near 
light-ships far out at sea, and as an addi- 
tional precaution bear the initials of the 
light-vessel they mark. 

There are two forms of unlighted buoys, 
the nun-buoys and the can-buoys. Any one 
can distinguish them at a glance, for the 
nuns are conical in shape, with pointed tops, 
while the cans are cylindrical in shape and 
have flat tops. The difference of form acts 
as a further check upon the directions they 
give, in indicating the courses of channels. 

122 



LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

A vessel going in from sea will find the 
nun-buoys on the starboard or right-hand 
side, and the can-buoys on the port or left- 
hand side. When the buoys are numbered, 
the largest possible figure is used that it may 
be read at a distance, and the letters or 
numerals are stenciled uniformly. To in- 
crease their visibility white characters are 
painted on black buoys and black characters 
on red buoys. 

The buoys offer much greater resistance 
to the wind and water than would be sup- 
posed. Despite every precaution in anchor- 
ing them, they sometimes break loose. One 
buoy which went adrift off our Atlantic 
shore was picked up near the coast of Ire- 
land. The buoys are anchored by various 
forms of moorings according to the nature 
of the sea's bottom in their position. They 
are not infrequently run down by passing 
ships or dragged, capsized, or sunk by ice- 
storms and by other accidents. No other 
aids to navigation are subject to so many 
accidents. 

The service is constantly on the alert, 
watching over these signals and replacing 

123 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

them in case of accident. They are regu- 
larly visited at all seasons by tenders, al- 
though the work is often extremely hazard- 
ous. The lighthouse tenders which look 
after the buoys are equipped with special 
derricks and lifting gear for handling them. 
It is so important when accidents befall that 
the buoy should be replaced with the least 
possible delay that the tenders do not hesi- 
tate to face any storm in going their regular 
rounds. All buoys are relieved at least once 
a year for overhauling, cleaning, repairing, 
and painting. In many cases these repairs 
are made much more frequently. 

To save valuable time in case of accident, 
an ample supply of spare or relief buoys, 
with all the necessary equipment, is kept 
constantly on hand for emergencies. A 
delay of a few hours in replacing a buoy 
which has been lost from an important point 
might cause a serious wreck and the loss of 
many lives. 

The comparison of the buoy and the bob 
of a fish-line becomes somewhat strained 
when we measure these miniature light- 
houses. The iron spar-buoys are made in 

124 



LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

three classes, varying in length from thirty 
to fifty feet over all, and weighing from 
2000 to 4000 pounds. These are built up 
with iron or steel plates in the form of 
wooden buoys and are especially serviceable 
in positions menaced by ice. The wooden 
spar-buoys measure from twenty to fifty 
feet in length and weigh from 350 to 1500 
pounds each. 

The can- and nun-buoys are built of steel 
plates, and are much the commonest forms 
of metal buoys. They are ingeniously built 
with their interior divided into two or more 
compartments with metal bulkheads or 
diaphragms, so that in case of collision or 
other accident the chance of their sinking 
will be reduced by about one half. Such a 
buoy, like a vessel equipped with bulkheads, 
will remain afloat after a bad collision unless 
both compartments are entered. 

It is quite a trick to moor a buoy, espe- 
cially in rough water, so that it will always 
maintain an upright position. Left to itself 
it would soon topple over, and its visibility 
would be seriously affected. The ordinary 
type of buoy usually has a heavy cast-iron 

125 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

cannon-ball attached directly below the buoy. 
The mooring-chain is attached to the lower 
end of the ballast ball. With this precaution 
a buoy will stand upright regardless of tides 
or currents. 

One of the latest forms is the tall type or 
channel-buoy which is used with success in 
deep waters. Such a buoy weighs from 700 
to 8300 pounds. They offer so much re- 
sistance to the currents and the wind that 
a special form of anchorage is required. 
They are attached to a stone or concrete 
block, or to a cast-iron sinker of special de- 
sign. The length of mooring-chain is two 
or three times the depth of the water in 
which the buoy floats. A counterweight is 
bolted to its lower end. These tall buoys do 
not need the ballast ball common to other 
types, since their greater draft gives them 
greater stability. 

There are to-day more than three hundred 
bell-buoys continually sending out their dole- 
ful note to the motion of the waves. The 
irregular clang of these signals is familiar 
for hundreds of miles along our coast-lines ; 
and such a buoy, even at a considerable dis- 

126 



LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

tance, is not a cheerful neighbor. Some 
buoys are round with flat decks, from which 
rises a steel structure supporting a bronze 
bell. These bells are usually hung with four 
iron clappers. 

The ringing is entirely automatic, since 
any motion of the sea will move the buoys 
in a direction which will set one or more of 
these clappers in motion. The buoys are 
surprisingly sensitive, and respond even to 
a ripple of the waves. A large ballast ball 
is attached to the under part of the buoy to 
keep it upright. The bell-buoys are very 
heavy, often weighing seven thousand 
pounds. Their clanging note will not carry 
far at sea, however, and they are principally 
employed in harbors. Once the bell buoy 
has been skilfully moored it requires no 
winding up and will ring indefinitely. 

The whistling-buoy is less dependable 
than the bell-buoy and only whistles its best 
when the sea is very rough. Much of the 
time it is silent. It is a ponderous affair 
weighing about 6500 pounds, although the 
mechanism is very simple. The buoy is pear- 
shaped and built of stout steel plates with 

127 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

the smaller end uppermost. A long open 
tube runs from its lower end throughout the 
length of the buoy. Its upper end is closed 
by a plate on which is mounted a check- valve 
and a whistle. 

When the buoy rises with the motion of 
the waves an ample supply of air is drawn 
into the tube. When the buoy falls with the 
next motion of the waves the air is com- 
pressed and expelled with sufficient force 
through the whistle at the top of the buoy 
to give the familiar whistling note. As long 
as the stout steel plates of the buoy hold to- 
gether the motion of the waves may be de- 
pended upon to operate the whistling-buoy 
indefinitely. The buoy is usually moored 
with a chain and heavy cast-iron sinker. 
Whistling-buoys especially designed for use 
in very deep water sometimes weigh eleven 
thousand pounds. There is never a lack of 
fresh air for operating the buoy. 

The most valuable of all forms of buoys 
is undoubtedly the automatic buoy. It 
is a comparatively recent invention, being 
scarcely thirty years old. Many forms of 
light-buoys have been tried, and many have 

128 



LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

failed, so that the present form is the result 
of a surprising number of experiments. The 
first buoy of this type was set up as an ex- 
periment by its inventor near the Scotland 
Light-ship in New York Bay in 1881. It 
proved so successful that it was officially 
taken over by the Government three years 
later. The present light-buoys are largely a 
development of this type. 

An interesting series of experiments has 
been carried on in New York Harbor with 
electric buoys. It was first planned to moor 
the buoy far out from shore in the Gedney 
Channel and keep a light burning in it by 
electricity supplied by a cable. The light was 
turned on in 1888 but was discontinued in 
1903. The operating expenses proved much 
higher than in the case of the gas-buoys, and 
it was far less dependable. Because of 
various accidents the light refused to burn 
during this period on 120 nights. 

The average landsman will be surprised 
to learn that the gas-buoy in its lonely sta- 
tions, buffeted by the sea, will burn con- 
tinuously without attention of any kind for 
two years at a time. All buoys of this form 

129 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

in American waters use gas, either oil-gas 
or acetylene. Many experiments have been 
made to devise a self -generating buoy but 
without success. In the new types of buoys 
the gas is kept at a pressure of about twelve 
atmospheres. Special compartments are 
provided for the gas in the body of the buoy, 
which is then piped to the lantern at the top. 
Most of the buoys throw out an inter- 
mittent series of flashes, which serves to 
identify them and their position. A small 
pilot-light burns continuously, and the gas 
is admitted from the flashing-chamber to the 
main burner and ignited, throwing out the 
desired signal. The gas is turned off and 
on at regular intervals by means of a flexible 
diaphragm and valves operated by the pres- 
sure of the gas in the reservoirs. Some 
lights burn an ordinary flat flame, while 
others use an incandescent mantle. The or- 
dinary flame proves most satisfactory, for 
the tossing of the buoys in the high seas is 
likely to break the delicate mantle. The gas- 
buoys are made in several sizes, weighing 
from 2800 to 34,500 pounds. Some of these 

130 



LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

buoys are equipped with sound-producing 
devices, such as the bell or whistle. 

The gas-buoy is considered very depend- 
able, even in exposed positions. It is far 
more effective than were the early light- 
houses, and can be towed out and moored in 
any position at comparatively slight expense. 
Gas-buoys are at times extinguished and 
dragged from their proper positions in 
storms, when valuable time may be lost be- 
fore the light is discovered to be missing, 
and can be replaced. They are especially 
valuable as marks approaching harbor en- 
trances, defining channels, and marking 
dangers, and often do the work of regular 
light-ships and of lighthouses on submerged 
sites. There is a great demand among navi- 
gators for more light-buoys and for more 
brilliant lights. The next few years will 
doubtless witness a great increase in the 
number of light-buoys, which will doubtless 
grow more and more efficient. 

The modern buoys would probably have 
seemed magical to the navigators of past 
centuries. What, for instance, would Henry 

131 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Hudson, on entering the "mouth of that 
land/' have thought of the floating buoy far 
out at sea, which automatically turns on its 
own light at sunset and extinguishes it at 
daybreak? These self-lighting and extin- 
guishing buoys are controlled by delicate 
thermostats, which are influenced by the 
light shining upon them. 

As the sun sets the approaching darkness 
serves to turn on the supply of gas vapor, 
which in turn is automatically ignited. The 
light continues to burn throughout the night, 
but with sunrise the delicate thermostat 
again reacts, turning off the supply of fuel. 
So delicate are the thermostats that the gath- 
ering of a sudden thunder-storm and the 
darkening of the skies will quickly turn on 
the light. Sometimes the passing of a heavy 
cloud will set the mechanism in operation. 
The instant the sun comes out or when the 
light perceptibly brightens the light is ex- 
tinguished. 

Among all the aids to navigation which 
modern ingenuity and engineering skill have 
developed, the gas-buoys hold a unique posi- 
tion. There is a curious fascination in the 

132 




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LANGUAGE OF THE BUOYS 

picture of these ingenious mechanisms, float- 
ing in the darkness of many lonely seas, 
unvisited for months, and buffeted by winter 
storms, which continue to function so stead- 
ily, and flash their warning lights through- 
out an entire winter without interruption., 



133 



CHAPTER IX 

A SERVICE DEPOT 

OF the forty-four lighthouse depots of 
the United States and its possessions, 
that of the Third District, at New York, 
best visualizes the varied activities of the 
service. It is the largest and one of the old- 
est stations in the country, and the principal 
depot for the distribution of supplies. Here 
side by side may be seen the old buildings 
dating from the early sixties with their mu- 
seums and "graveyards" and the modern 
up-to-date shops and laboratories for sup- 
plying the newest equipment. 

The location in New York Harbor keeps 
the depot in instant touch with all the de- 
mands of navigation. There are at present 
seven such districts on the Atlantic seaboard, 
dividing up the coast-line from Maine to 
Florida. Five districts are required to direct 
the work along the Mississippi River, one on 
the Gulf of Mexico, and three on the Pacific 

134 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

coast, with still others at Porto Rico, Alaska, 
and the Hawaiian Islands. 

The headquarters of the Third District 
are situated on the eastern shore of Staten 
Island overlooking the harbor of New York, 
whose great commercial fleets are continu- 
ally passing within hailing distance. The 
grounds and docks are enclosed by a high 
brick wall, with several elaborate portals, 
which are closely guarded. Many of the 
buildings within are about seventy years old, 
and their quaint roof-lines and vine-covered 
walls lend the yard a pleasant effect of dig- 
nity and age. The grounds are laid out in 
well-kept lawns, flower-beds, and bricked 
walks. 

The station is crowded on every hand 
with the equipment of the service, which has 
a peculiar fascination for the landsman. 
Standing in ordered rows on one of the 
lawns are dozens of bells, large and small, 
gathered from many lighthouses, light- 
ships, and buoys. Near-by are rows of boats 
which might tell many tales of adventure on 
lonely seas. There are cannon, most of them 
obsolete, which in years past have sounded 

i35 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

their warning from dangerous reefs. The 
docks are crowded with curious snub-nosed 
light-ships undergoing repair before re- 
suming their stations. The relief boats and 
lighthouse tenders make this their point of 
departure. The most picturesque feature of 
the yards, however, are the long docks 
crowded with buoys of every description, 
with their fog-horns, submarine bells, and 
lights. Still other docks are filled with un- 
familiar apparatus, but all have the unmis- 
takable atmosphere of the sea. 

The lighthouse depot is primarily a base 
of supplies and the point of departure for 
the vessels of the service. In the smallest 
of these stations one will find a dock and a 
storehouse. When the work demands there 
are machine-shops, carpenter shops, and 
blacksmith shops for repairing the varied 
supplies for the service. In many depots a 
complete equipment of derricks, lifting gear, 
and tramways is required. The storehouses 
for supplies are often very extensive, includ- 
ing isolated oil houses for inflammable ar- 
ticles, lamps, and machinery, and sheds for 
buoys, lumber, and coal. 

136 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

The principal work of the lighthouse de- 
pot, in a word, is to keep the machinery of 
the service in its general region in first-class 
working condition. Here the lights and 
buoys are overhauled. Here the tools and 
equipment in demand at lighthouse stations 
are stored when not in active use. All articles 
which are damaged or worn out, and the 
wear and tear of the service is very heavy, 
are brought here to be repaired or condemned 
and replaced. Here the tenders and light- 
ships are repaired. Several mine-layers used 
in the World War are being converted into 
tenders at present at this depot. Here much 
of the special apparatus of the service is 
manufactured and repaired. An immense 
amount of technical work, including the test- 
ing of apparatus and supplies and the de- 
signing and improving of various light and 
sound producing devices, may be watched. 

One of the docks is covered with unfa- 
miliar steel frames and tall skeleton towers, 
which the mere landsman will find difficult to 
identify. These, it is explained, are types of 
the lighthouses of the future. Although they 
are far less picturesque and graceful than 

137 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

the familiar stone towers of the past, the 
efficiency and cheapness of these forms as- 
sure their ascendancy. The cost of build- 
ing great massive stone lighthouses has be- 
come virtually prohibitive. Such towers, 
again, must have comfortable living quarters 
near-by for the light-keeper and his family, 
so that the cost of maintenance is very large. 

This new type of lighthouse, or rather 
tower, is extremely simple in design. It 
consists of a small skeleton steel structure 
rising from a concrete base. There are a 
variety of such towers at the Staten Island 
station, ready to be picked up and placed at 
any point of danger in a few hours. A light 
will burn as brightly from these supports as 
atop a masonry tower which has taken a 
year to rise. These unattended stations will 
send out their warning for months at a time 
without being visited. 

The new type of lighthouses, which may 
be placed at frequent intervals, are far more 
helpful to the navigator than the older form 
of beacons. Originally lighthouses were 
built on conspicuous headlands where they 
were often more picturesque than useful. 

138 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

Such lights did not point in any direction 
helpful to the navigator. They fixed a mark 
on the coast and nothing more. 

The original light on Sandy Hook is an 
excellent illustration of how not to place 
guiding lights. The needs of navigation 
were not understood in those days, as at pres- 
ent. A ship after sighting the Sandy Hook 
Light was obliged to change its course and 
valuable time was lost. Ships were often de- 
ceived by such a light and blundered into 
danger. To-day a buoy marks the exact en- 
trance to the Ambrose Channel. 

The docks of the Staten Island station 
doubtless contain the largest assortment of 
buoys to be found anywhere in the country. 
New buoys of many types must be kept con- 
stantly on hand to be ready at a moment's 
notice. If any one of the several types of 
buoys which mark the channels of New York 
Harbor is injured, and accidents are com- 
mon, a new buoy must be rushed from the 
station without a moment's delay. Here the 
buoys injured in collision, or worn out by 
long sea service, are regularly brought to be 
repaired. Along the docks will be found the 

139 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

familiar types of nun- and can-buoys, lighted 
buoys, bell-buoys, and submarine buoys, with 
various combinations of lights and bells and 
submarine signals. 

In another part of the repair-shops the 
workmen were equipping the buoys with a 
simple but ingenious device to enable them 
to defend themselves against careless or ma- 
licious sailors. The defense consists of a 
sharp saw-like fin which is placed along the 
outer edges of the frame. It is quite com- 
mon for tows in turning buoys to allow their 
ropes to foul the buoys, and perhaps drag 
them off their stations. When a hawser is 
drawn across this saw-like edge it will be 
quickly cut in two, to the consternation of the 
careless sailor, while the buoy continues to 
bob about at its station undisturbed. 

The great size of these buoys when seen 
out of their native element is a never-failing 
source of surprise to the landsman. A vis- 
itor to the docks finds himself dwarfed by 
the great structures of steel. The mistake 
of underestimating their size is a very com- 
mon one. Not long ago when contracts for 
building these aids were let from the Staten 

140 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

Island station, the owner of a small machine- 
shop, who was unfamiliar with the sea, re- 
ceived an order for several large buoys. Be- 
fore beginning work he visited the station 
and was shown about the docks. At the first 
glimpse of the great buoys he was to build he 
was dumfounded. His shop was not large 
enough, he explained, to house such an ob- 
ject, let alone build it. He was actually 
obliged to sublet his contract to a larger shop. 
No buoy is considered fit to be placed on sta- 
tion, by the way, until it has passed several 
exhaustive tests. It must be submitted to 
water pressure to determine if its seams will 
prove water-tight against the storms which 
will beat upon it in its lonely station. 

In one corner of the shops a powerful au- 
tomatic bell-buoy was being repaired. The 
general principle of its action is familiar, but 
one gains a new respect for this deep-sea 
sentinel on examining it at close range. Its 
great size and power come as a surprise. The 
base of the buoy when raised from the water 
is found to be more than five feet square — 
large enough for some men to stand up- 
right inside the shell. 

141 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

A board flange which fills the space is 
hinged to one side, so that the action of the 
waves, as the buoys rise and fall, moves the 
flange up and down. This motion serves to 
store up energy in a stiff spring in the upper 
part of the buoy. The spring is thus wound 
up until it reaches a certain tension, when it 
is released, and the recoil of the spring 
strikes the bell a resounding blow far below 
the water-line. Once released, the waves 
again begin their slow laborious task of 
storing up energy for another sledge-ham- 
mer stroke. 

By this ingenious contrivance the subma- 
rine bell-buoy sends out, warning signals at 
more or less regular intervals, although its 
station be many miles from any human 
habitation. To be effective, a submarine 
bell must strike a very sharp heavy stroke. 
It would be virtually impossible to store up 
energy in a floating buoy to do such work 
for any extended period, or even for a few 
hours. The automatic submarine bell-buoy 
will stand guard for years in winter and sum- 
mer without once omitting to send out its 
warning signal. 

142 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

An entirely original form of bell-buoy is 
being constructed in one of the shops which 
promises to revolutionize this form of sig- 
nal. The familiar bell-buoy is equipped with 
a signal bell with one or more long knockers 
or clappers suspended from the framework 
above. As the waves tilt the buoys from 
side to side, one or another of these clappers 
alternately swings against the bell. In foggy 
weather when the note of the bell is the only 
signal, it is of course difficult to distinguish 
one buoy bell from another or from that 
of a ship. 

When a fog drops down upon a vessel 
which carries no horn or whistle a sailor is at 
once set to beating on the ship's bell to warn 
approaching vessels. It often happens in a 
harbor filled with ships that the bells aboard 
many ships will keep up a constant din, which 
is naturally confusing. The new multiple 
bell-buoy makes it possible to give each buoy 
a distinctive signal, which at the same time 
will be sounded automatically by the action of 
the waves. 

A spindle or upright is set in the buoy, to 
which are attached several large gongs or 

143 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

flat bells of different diameters. A series of 
clappers is suspended from above so that 
one or more will strike each bell. Now, as 
the waves swing the buoys, all four of these 
bells will be struck at one time or another, 
throwing out four different notes. Such a 
signal will be unmistakable. 

There will of course be no rhythm in the 
succession of notes, since the sequence will 
depend upon the chance motion of the waves. 
The effect will, in short, be much the same 
as that of much modern jazz music. By 
varying the number of bells and their notes 
on a buoy an indefinite number of distinc- 
tive signals may be arranged. The new in- 
vention gives the automatic buoy an entirely 
new voice, or rather many different voices, 
which the navigator even in strange waters 
will be able to recognize and identify. This 
unique aid to navigation, which has been 
tentatively called a chime buoy, is being used 
experimentally in New York Harbor. 

One of the most interesting glimpses be- 
hind the scenes at the service station is the 
visit to the room where the automatic lights 
are being adjusted and tested. Every one 

144 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

knows these signals, white or red, which al- 
ternately flash on and off atop the buoy or 
fixed posts on the channels, at sea or along 
the inland waterways. Here the lights are 
brought to be repaired and tested. A lamp 
with a flash of one second may be changed to 
throw out a signal several times as long or 
the reverse. The workmen at several long 
tables are dissecting these interesting mech- 
anisms and rebuilding worn-out or damaged 
lights. 

On close inspection the mechanisms of 
those lights are surprisingly simple.! In 
some cases the light is turned on and off by 
a clockwork device, but such machinery is 
likely to get out of order when installed on a 
buoy, which is constantly pitched about in 
the sea, and is exposed to all kinds of 
weather. The most effective plan, as we see 
here, is to equip the buoy or other automatic 
light with a supply of gas under pressure., 
In most cases enough gas is supplied to keep 
the signal light for about six months, al- 
though they have been known to burn for 
two years in some cases without replenishing., 

The gas is forced into a chamber at the 

145 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

top of the light buoy, which, when filled, is 
automatically closed by a valve. The closing 
of the valve ignites a spark, which ignites the 
gas and thus gives the desired flash. In some 
cases a pilot-light is used. With the explo- 
sion of the gas the chamber of course emp- 
ties, the valve is opened, and a new supply 
of gas enters the chamber. The operation is 
repeated automatically with unfailing regu- 
larity. It is a curious sight to watch these 
long tables, with rows of such lights alter- 
nately flashing on and off their red or white 
signals. The duration of the flash is care- 
fully timed and observed until the light 
proves itself sufficiently dependable to be 
placed upon a buoy on- some inland river or 
perhaps far out at sea. 

Before the World War America was 
largely dependent upon Europe, and espe- 
cially Germany, for its supply of lighthouse 
lenses. It was thought that the expensive 
cut glass lenses we imported from abroad 
were indispensable. When the supply was 
cut off, American manufacturers at once set 
about to manufacture these lenses at home* 

146 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

They found they could make a fine grade of 
pressed glass which would serve in place of 
the cut glass lenses, and there are to-day 
three firms in the United States which are 
turning out excellent lenses at greatly re- 
duced prices. 

The tendency in all new inventions for 
developing beacon lights is to magnify the 
light source and reduce the work of the 
lenses. There is a collection of obsolete 
lenses known as the "graveyard" at the 
Staten Island station, which contains many 
forms of lenses which are obsolete or nearly 
so. The new lights give an intense white 
ray, which only requires a small lens. The 
initial cost of the new lights is, of course, 
very much less than in the case of the old 
forms. There is, besides, less machinery 
to get out of order and require inspection and 
repairing, so that the upkeep is greatly re- 
duced. 

An interesting comparison of the light- 
houses, light-ships, and fog-signals of the 
continents is made possible by the British 
Admiralty lists of lights. These tables do 

i47 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

not include the Great Lakes of North Amer- 
ica or any rivers above the limit of sea-going 

navigation : 

Light Light Fog 

Continents stations vessels signals 

Europe 7,335 192 799 

North America 2 >9 X 3 49 645 

Asia 1,355 36 116 

Australia and Oceania . . 746 3 21 

Africa 519 o 10 

South America 358 10 15 

Total 13,226 290 1,606 

If all the aids to navigation under the con- 
trol of the lighthouse service be counted, the 
United States makes a remarkable showing.. 
Including all the lights, minor lights, light- 
vessels, lighted buoys,' and floating lights, 
there is a grand total of nearly six thousand 
lights now regularly maintained. The un- 
lighted aids are more numerous. These in- 
clude the fog-signals, submarine bells, whis- 
tling buoys, bell-buoys, and other buoys, and 
the beacons. There are at present about fen 
thousand of these unlighted aids. The total 
of all the lighted and unlighted aids main- 
tained by the United States lighthouse ser- 
vice is therefore about sixteen thousand. 

148 



A SERVICE DEPOT 

The lighthouse service of the United 
States is by far the largest organization of 
its kind in the world. No other country ap- 
proaches it in the extent of the territory 
guarded, the number of aids to navigation 
maintained, or the force of helpers of all 
kinds employed. The coast-line of the United 
States, besides, presents immensely varied 
problems. Much of the sea-coast of Alaska 
and California and of New England breaks 
down to the sea in formidable cliffs. In other 
regions, for hundreds of miles, the shore- 
line is low with great areas of shoals ex- 
tending far out to sea. At several points the 
currents are both strong and treacherous, 
while the winds often play strange tricks 
about unusual coast formations. No single 
type of beacon will prove effective under such 
widely varied conditions. 

The sea-coast under the jurisdiction of the 
United States is 48,881 miles in length. The 
aids to navigation in the Philippines and 
Panama are not included in this total and 
are under local jurisdiction. The Great 
Lakes have a shore-line in addition of 4020 
miles, and the interior and coastal rivers 

149 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

have 5842 miles which are guarded by the 
service. The service employs in all 5800 
people. Of these 1783 are lighthouse keep- 
ers, 1524 care for post lights, and 1692 are 
employed on vessels. 

The total cost of operating the lighthouse 
service of the United States is about five 
million dollars. Each year $500,000 is spent 
in building new lighthouses and light-vessels 
and other aids. In view of the priceless 
service performed by these sentinels along 
our coast in safeguarding our navigation, 
the outlay is surprisingly small. The cost of 
maintaining the service for an entire year 
would have paid the expenses of carrying on 
our part in the World War for only a few 
hours. 

In other words, the annual expense of 
maintaining the lighthouse service is less 
than the cost of many single ships and their 
cargoes. In comparison with the billions of 
dollars represented by shipping in American 
waters, and the safeguarding of hundreds 
of thousands of lives under many flags, the 
cost of the service is a very trifling amount. 



150 



CHAPTER X 

ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

THE thousands of aids to navigation of 
every form along our coasts might be 
compared to a battle line, which can only 
maintain the fight against the common 
enemy, the sea, with the aid of the fleet of 
tenders, which, at any hazard, must bring 
up the reserves and supplies. In the course 
of a year, which includes all seasons, the fleet 
of fifty lighthouse tenders sails, or rather 
steams, more than half a million miles. No 
other class of vessels in the world is prob- 
ably obliged to battle with so many storms 
or navigate such dangerous waters. 

In good weather and bad, in and out of 
season, they must ply back and forth be- 
tween their bases and the widely scattered 
lighthouses, light-ships, and other aids along 
our well-nigh interminable coasts. The 
crews of light-ships anchored on many lonely 

151 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

seas depend wholly upon the tenders for sup- 
plies. The tenders carry the materials for 
constructing or repairing the various aids to 
navigation. In case of accident to lights 
ashore or afloat, the tenders are depended 
upon to replace them. 

Like the light-ships, the tenders have been 
especially designed to face unusual hazards. 
The present form is the result of a century's 
experience in building such craft. The light- 
house tenders must be at sea in all seasons 
and must therefore face the most violent 
storms, so that a high degree of seaworthi- 
ness is essential. At the same time their 
work must often be carried on near shoals 
and rocks, so that their draft must be as light 
as possible. Their hulls must be unusually 
strong to withstand accidental groundings 
in shallow seas, or pounding against reefs 
and other obstructions. No ordinary craft 
would survive many seasons. 

A trip out to sea aboard one of these 
service tenders is an unusual privilege., It 
is necessary to obtain permission from the 
officials at Washington and arrange a sched- 
ule well in advance. Another requisite is 

152 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

the possession of sea-legs and a superlatively 
good digestion, as the writer was to learn 
later on. The invitation was to accompany 
the tender Larkspur, whose patrol lies gen- 
erally from Newport on the north to Cape 
May on the south, with special care of the 
more exposed aids to navigation in and about 
New York Harbor. The post is extremely 
important. The patrol must keep a watchful 
eye upon hundreds of aids to navigation, and 
the failure of any one of these to give its 
necessary warning might quickly lead to 
serious accident. 

The Larkspur leaves her dock promptly 
at seven in the morning. Her trips up or 
down the coast usually take three days, al- 
though she is often out for a week or more. 
On this particular day she was scheduled to 
visit both the Ambrose Channel and Scot- 
land light-ships, and inspect all the aids to 
navigation along the length of the Ambrose 
Channel, those off Sandy Hook and along a 
portion of the Long Island shore — certainly 
a comprehensive program. 

On the run down the harbor there was 
ample time to inspect the ship. At first 

153 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

glance the most conspicuous object on board 
was a great block of concrete five feet square 
which weighed many tons. The crew were 
busily engaged in lashing this fast in the 
middle of the forward deck. It seemed in- 
credible that such a weight could be moved 
unless by a derrick. The landsman ventured 
this suggestion, and was told to wait a while 
and see what the waves would do to it. Later 
on, when the Larkspur poked her nose into 
the rollers which swept in from the sea, the 
importance of this precaution became ob- 
vious. 

Above the Narrows the harbor was as 
smooth as the proverbial mill-pond. Having 
inspected the boat, the visitor was welcomed 
in the spacious pilot-house. Quarantine 
chanced to be a very busy place, with eleven 
great liners at anchor awaiting inspection. 
On passing out of the Narrows the Larkspur 
soon became surprisingly lively. Looking 
forward through the broad open windows of 
the pilot-house, one saw the long line of the 
horizon ahead swing regularly up and down 
to the roll of the ship. The captain remarked 

154 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

genially that it promised to be rough outside, 
and, as the motion increased, watched his 
passenger closely with an amused twinkle. 

The tenders are built with an open forward 
deck to afford ample room for the gear used 
in handling buoys. A powerful derrick is 
rigged to the mast so that the heaviest buoys 
may be readily raised from the sea and 
swung inboard. The derrick may be swung 
far out so that in lifting heavy objects in 
rough waters when the vessel pitches and 
rolls they will not endanger the sides of the 
hull. Throughout, the boat is built as simply 
and sturdily as possible, with a great re- 
serve of strength. The engines are unusu- 
ally powerful for a craft of this size, to enable 
her to buck against heavy storms, and to 
work herself loose if she accidentally grounds 
while cruising in dangerous waters. 

The low forward deck is often completely 
covered by the high seas and the anchor 
windlass is usually covered by a forecastle 
head. One of the most vivid mental pictures 
of the trip is the appearance of this deck 
from the pilot-house, with the waves break- 

155 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

ing continually over it, while several sailors 
sat quite undisturbed in its shelter and kept 
their pipes alight. 

The open portion of this deck is used en- 
tirely for handling and carrying buoys, which 
are usually very bulky objects. Every ten- 
der carries a powerful hoisting-engine for 
raising the buoys, which is operated from the 
deck by a system of levers. In all these craft 
there are comfortable quarters for the offi- 
cers and crew, for the men are often at 
sea weeks at a time in all kinds of weather. 
There are special cabins for the inspector or 
other official passengers. 

As a special precaution the tenders car- 
ried launches, a large whale-boat, and other 
smaller boats, an unusual equipment for so 
small a craft. In visiting lighthouses and 
buoys the waters are often shallow and beset 
with rocks which are unsafe for the tender. 
There must be an ample life-boat accommo- 
dations in case the tender meets with dis- 
aster. The mainmasts of the tenders carry 
the craft's range-light and official flags and 
the antenna of the wireless equipment. 

The tenders are overhauled at frequent in- 

156 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

tervals, and none put to sea until they have 
passed a rigid inspection. The boats which 
ply in salt water are docked, cleaned, and re- 
painted every six months, while those which 
sail in reasonably fresh water are docked 
once a year. The average life of a tender is 
[twenty-five years. Two new tenders are 
built every year to maintain the number of 
vessels in commission. 

A standard style of painting is followed so 
that the tenders may be the more easily rec- 
ognized at sea. The underwater bodies are 
painted red and the exposed part of the hull 
black, as is the funnel. The topsides and the 
deckhouses are painted white. The contrast 
of black and white readily distinguishes the 
tenders for a considerable distance at sea. 

Originally the lighthouse tenders were 
sailing craft, the first of them, the Rush, be- 
ing transferred to the service in 1840. In 
earlier days the work of visiting the light- 
houses and tending the buoys was let out by 
contract. The first steam tender, the Shu- 
brick, was built in Philadelphia in 1857 and 
in the following year used on the Pacific 
coast. 

157 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

By 1865 the fleet comprised six small 
steamers, which formed the nucleus of the 
present fleet of more than fifty craft. The 
early boats were side-wheelers and carried 
sail to make them more dependable, should 
the new-fangled steam-engine get out of or- 
der. The largest of the fleet at present is 
the Cedar, which is used in Alaskan waters. 
It measures two hundred feet in length and 
thirty-six feet in beam, but, conforming to 
the lines of the rest of the fleet, draws but 
thirteen feet of water. 

All the way down the harbor the captain 
of the Larkspur had been keeping a watchful 
eye upon the buoys. As the boat approached 
each buoy a pair of binoculars would be 
brought to bear upon it, and the angle at 
which it floated and the brightness and dura- 
tion of the flash of its lamp were appraised 
with an experienced eye. Occasionally a 
signal would be rung down to the engine- 
room, and the Larkspur would leave its 
course and come alongside the buoy for a 
closer inspection. 

If a single one of these hundreds of buoys 
fails to send out its regular signal, its white 

158 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

or red light, its fog- or bell-signal, it cannot 
go long undetected. The position of these 
aids was pointed out meanwhile on a chart 
of the harbor spread out on the table of the 
pilot-house. Drawn to such a scale, the har- 
bor seems to be crowded with a veritable 
forest of these aids. 

The first call of the inspection trip was 
made upon a monster buoy which rang a bell 
to the swash of the waves, and flashed a red 
light with clock-like regularity. It seemed a 
mere red speck in the distance, but, as the 
Larkspur came alongside, the light atop the 
red frame actually towered above the for- 
ward deck. The visit was made to find if 
the buoy needed more pressure to keep its 
light burning, and, in case it did, to supply it., 

To come alongside a great buoy in such a 
sea required delicate navigation. The Lark- 
spur was skilfully manceuvered alongside, 
while half a dozen trained men stood at their 
stations forward. The towering steel struc- 
ture of the buoy bumped alongside and 
drifted swiftly past with surprising speed., 
The instant the buoy touched the vessel's 
side experienced hands lassoed it.. This may 

i59 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

not be the correct nautical phrase, but it 
describes the action. Ropes were thrown 
about it, which were quickly caught by long 
boat-hooks and drawn in. Heavy hawsers 
had been attached to the lines, which in turn 
were drawn about the buoy, which was thus 
held rigidly to the vessel's side despite the 
motion of the sea. 

With the agility of a cat a sailor sprang 
from the deck to the cage-like frame at the 
top of the buoy, and holding to the ribs 4 
which swung violently from side to side, 
opened the lamp and inserted a complicated 
instrument. It would be difficult to picture 
a more unusual position for making a scien- 
tific observation. A moment later he turned 
to the ship and shouted a single word, 
"Four." The signal had nothing to do with 
the game of golf. 

The captain shouted an order in return, 
and then explained that "four" meant that 
the tank of the buoy still contained a pres- 
sure of four atmospheres. This would be 
sufficient to keep the light burning for two 
months or more, but it would nevertheless be 
renewed to twelve atmospheres. 

160 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

A flexible hose had meanwhile been carried 
to the buoy and attached. In the choppy sea 
the Larkspur and the buoy bobbed about out- 
rageously; but the supply of compressed air 
was carried across the open water, and in a 
few minutes the tank was filled and the pipe 
drawn in. The sailor on the buoy rose to his 
feet and made a flying leap across three or 
four feet which separated him from the deck 
of the Larkspur, landing in safety. A mo- 
ment later the rope had been drawn in and 
the buoy quickly floated away with sufficient 
air pressure to last her for six months. 

From this position the broad reach of the 
Ambrose Channel, picked out with lines of 
buoys, stretched seaward as far as the eye 
could reach. The passenger remarked on 
the surprising regularity of this spacing, 
but the captain disagreed with him. A single 
buoy on the far side of the channel upward 
of a mile away appeared to him to be out of 
alignment.; No ordinary eye would detect 
the fault. The Larkspur was maneuvered 
across the line, and an observation proved 
the captain to be right. 

A single buoy was out of line, perhaps as 

161 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

much as ten or twenty feet. This distance 
seems trifling in comparison with the 1500- 
foot channel, especially in this lonely position 
well out to sea, but the great Ambrose Chan- 
nel has been drawn with mathematical accu- 
racy and must be kept so. 

As the Larkspur ran down the buoy it was 
explained that such accidents were not un- 
common. A vessel may blunder against a 
buoy in the fog and drag it a few feet off 
station, or the force of the currents in cer- 
tain parts of the harbor may disturb it. In 
the winter the ice-floe often carries buoys 
for considerable distances, and even wrenches 
them loose from their moorings. 

When the buoy was reached it was again 
"lassoed' ' and bound tightly to the side of 
the tender with heavy chains. The Larkspur 
then backed water slowly, dragging the 
buoy with its heavy concrete base along the 
bed of the ocean until it again floated ex- 
actly in line. 

A digression was now made to inspect the 
buoys along the south shore of Long Island. 
Out here in the ocean, five miles or more off 
Coney Island, the water is dotted with buoys 

162 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

of various types in no apparent order. They 
mark for the most part a series of bars and 
shoals which, if neglected, would quickly 
play havoc with navigation. Even the Lark- 
spur, which draws but little more than ten 
feet of water and is especially constructed 
for shoal waters, must be very careful in 
keeping to the proper channels in this region, 
and indeed throughout New York Harbor. 

It is as true to-day as in the time Henry 
Hudson first entered these waters that navi- 
gation is extremely delicate. Only a few 
weeks earlier a liner had failed to find the 
entrance to Ambrose Channel in the fog, 
and had driven at good speed across these 
bars. She went aground so securely that 
it was found impossible to get her off, and 
after her passengers and cargo had been 
removed she was blown up and carried away 
piece by piece. 

During the war two vessels came together 
in this region of the harbor in a heavy fog 
and one of them sank in deep water. Ac- 
cording to the regular custom, a special buoy 
was immediately planted over the wreck, 
which did not appear above the surface. 

163 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

The wreck had been removed, and on our 
present trip it was planned to remove the 
buoy and plant it at another spot some dis- 
tance away. The work afforded an unusual 
opportunity to see this difficult operation 
carried out on the high seas in the face of con- 
siderable danger. 

The marker was a spar-buoy or cylinder 
of wood chained to an anchorage at the bot- 
tom of the sea. Such buoys when seen from 
a distance look no larger than pencils float- 
ing in the water. Any one familiar with our 
harbors will recall that these buoys usually 
rise from the water at an angle of about 
thirty degrees and swing to and fro with 
the tide through a wide circle. On com- 
ing alongside the spar-buoy it was found to 
be a great log of wood sixteen inches in 
diameter, with alternate red and black bands 
painted about it. 

The tender came carefully alongside, once 
more "lassoed" the buoy, and, drawing it 
close, passed a heavy chain about it. The 
chain was secured, and the most powerful 
of the tender's derricks was brought into 
play. The tug of the engines vibrated the 

164 




The U. S. Lighthouse Tender, "Tulip' 




t> 






'■^Piy^^^' 



IRE* ISLAND 



BlBTiT in« 



The Famous "Fire Island" Lightship, New York Harbor 




Scene in General Lighthouse Depot. Note Masthead 
of Lightship 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

entire ship. The spar rose slowly from the 
water. Up and up it came until there seemed 
to be no end to it. It was not until fifty-six 
feet of log had been disclosed that the bottom 
cleared the water. We were now to see the 
nature of its moorings. 

The lower end of the spar was fastened to 
a heavy chain perhaps twenty feet in length. 
There was more tugging by the engine until 
the entire length of the chain was disclosed, 
revealing a great block of concrete six feet 
square and about as deep, securely fastened 
to it. This block serves to hold the pole or 
buoy in position. Its angle from the per- 
pendicular varies with the strength of the 
tide or currents. 

The great spar with its chain and sinker 
were hoisted on board and laid out on the 
deck. It would be several hours before its 
new station was reached, and meanwhile 
the crew set to work to scrape off the red and 
black paint and apply a coat of white. This 
had been applied and had partly dried by the 
time it was time to put it overboard. It 
would be an extremely difficult operation to 
handle so heavy and unwieldy an object as 

165 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

a fifty-foot spar and a six-ton base on dry 
land. The difficulty of handling it on the 
deck of a small boat at sea was greatly in- 
creased by the violent motion of the waves. 

With a skill born of long practice the 
great spar was first hoisted clear of the deck, 
swung out over the sides, and carefully 
lowered until it rested on a flange of the outer 
hull. As the spar was raised and lowered 
it was necessary to secure it with ropes at 
every stage of the operation to keep it from 
plunging into the sea. It was at last laid 
safely in this position and lashed fast. The 
concrete base was then raised, swung over- 
side, and lowered to another section of the 
flange. This ledge only served to support 
a small part of the weight of the base, which 
was secured with stout ropes to the side of 
the tender. 

The placing of the spar was the most spec- 
tacular event of the trip. The landsman was 
wholly unprepared for what followed. The 
tender by this time had reached the buoy's 
new station. The captain leaned far out 
of the pilot-house and cast a critical eye upon 
the preparations. The great log of wood 

1 66 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

one third the length of the ship lay tied to 
the outer side of the hull. At its other end 
the square base of concrete rested on the 
ledge near the prow. The first officer took 
up his position on the forward deck and the 
men hurried to their stations. The captain 
meanwhile, with his glasses to his eyes, made 
sure of the position and signaled for atten- 
tion. Every one stood waiting for the order. 
At the word "Go !" a sailor suddenly pulled 
sharply on the rope securing the concrete 
base to the side of the ship. The knots were 
so tied that they instantly fell apart, releas- 
ing the six-ton sinker. Thereupon several 
interesting things happened in quick succes- 
sion. The weighty concrete sinker fell with 
a great splash into the sea. As it dropped, 
the heavy chain suddenly jerked the end of 
the great spar sharply downward. The huge 
log pivoted for a fraction of a second and 
its upper end flew up in a flash. The next 
instant it had followed the concrete base with 
a resounding splash. The weight reached 
the bottom in an instant, and the spar-buoy 
quickly righted itself and swung free, its 
white sides glistening in the sun. The entire 

167 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

operation had taken less than a second. But 
suppose anything had gone wrong in the cap- 
tain's calculations or the alertness of the crew 
in obeying orders ! 

These are typical buoy problems which 
make up a day's work aboard the tenders 
along thousands of miles of coast-line. In 
the winter service, however, the danger of 
the work is immensely increased. The ten- 
ders must put to sea in all kinds of weather, 
for it is at this season that most accidents 
occur to the buoys. The storms are more se- 
vere, and the danger of ice is most dreaded. 
In cold weather it is not unusual for the 
buoys to be iced up so that their bells will 
not ring, or so that the fog-horns cease to 
function. The buoys must be visited regu- 
larly at whatever peril. The crews of this 
fleet must often stand for hours exposed to 
the full fury of the gales when any other 
craft would seek shelter. 

The day's trip included a visit to the two 
light-ships at the entrance to the harbor. 
This call is made once a week to carry water, 
food, and supplies. The Larkspur on this 
trip brought out the first officer of the Am- 

168 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

brose Channel Light-ship, who had been 
ashore on leave, and a relief for the wireless 
operator of the Scotland Light-ship. To 
transfer passengers or supplies on one of 
these vessels is a work requiring consid- 
erable seamanship. Even on the quietest 
days when the waters of the Upper Bay are 
quite smooth, the light-ships are always bob- 
bing about like the proverbial cork. 

It was impossible on this visit to go along- 
side either of the light-vessels. The Lark- 
spur was skilfully manceuvered close in, and 
a boat put out from the light-ship. To the 
eye of the landsman, looking down from the 
height of the pilot-house, it seemed impos- 
sible that so small a craft could, in the sea 
phrase, live in such waves. The motion of 
the light-ship, riding at anchor in the choppy 
sea, seemed extremely violent, but that of the 
little rowboats was far worse. It required 
several attempts to pass each box or bundle 
from the tender to the row-boats, which 
threatened to be crushed against the ship's 
side at every plunge. 

A number of attempts were made before 
even an experienced sailor could leap from 

169 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

the boat to the larger vessel. The transfer 
of water to the light-ships was a much 
simpler matter. A long flexible hose was 
carried from one vessel to the other, and the 
water pumped across a considerable interval 
of open sea. On this particular day about 
four thousand gallons of water were thus 
put aboard the Ambrose Light-ship. 

The trip of the Larkspur to the light-ves- 
sels and buoys had been made on a Saturday, 
which, as all the world knows, is sailing day 
in New York Harbor. At noon the great 
fleet of ocean steamers outward bound be- 
gan to appear at the Narrows. More than a 
score of great transatlantic liners passed out, 
headed for the sea. One of the first of these 
was the' Majestic, the largest ship afloat, on 
her maiden voyage eastward. The diminu- 
tive Larkspur seemed too small a craft to be 
seen from the decks towering high above her. 

Here was the most dramatic possible ob- 
ject-lesson of the patience and daring of the 
lighthouse tenders. Their labor had cleared 
the great channels of every obstruction. One 
after another, the stately ships swept down 
the Channel at top speed, turned sharply at 

170 



ABOARD A LIGHTHOUSE TENDER 

the "Nuckles," and headed for the open 
sea. The next time the reader chances to 
pass in or out of New York Harbor, as the 
ship beneath him is guided with infallible 
sureness past every danger, let him recall 
that his safety has been assured by the cease- 
less vigil of this patrol, day and night, in all 
extremes of weather^ 



171 



CHAPTER XI 

ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

WHEN she swings down, you jump. 
And whatever you do, hang on!" 

An officer of the tender which had brought 
us out stood by to assist. A few feet away 
the hull of the Ambrose Channel Light-ship 
rose and fell in a terrifying manner. The 
only way of reaching the light-ship's deck 
was by means of a rope ladder swinging 
freely over her side. It was to this ladder, 
once it swung within reach, that the writer 
was to jump, and whatever he did, hang on. 

The critical moment arrived. The crew of 
the light-ship above shouted words of wel- 
come and encouragement. Somehow the 
jump was made, and a moment later the vis- 
itor was helped over the side of the ship, 
where a hearty welcome awaited him. The 
crew had been informed by radio of the 

172 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

visit, an occurrence aboard the lonely light- 
ship scarcely more frequent than the sighting 
of a blue moon. 

The Ambrose Channel Light-ship, with its. 
tub-like lines, its short masts, and its name 
so conspicuously displayed along its sides, is 
one of the most familiar objects on the trans- 
atlantic lanes. There are many other lights 
and light-ships in the three-thousand-mile 
run, but no other landmark or water-mark is 
anticipated with the same thrill. She stands 
but five miles from the entrance to the Am- 
brose Channel when every one will be on 
deck for the first glimpse of the harbor and 
of home. 

Light-ships are built for service, not dec- 
oration. They are not shipshape in the con- 
ventional sense, being very short, tubby little 
craft for their tonnage. In the bleak, ex- 
posed posts that they must guard in all kinds 
of weather, there is no demand for graceful 
lines, and they are obviously not built for 
speed. The Ambrose Light-ship has a crew 
of four officers and ten men. Aboard some 
of the smaller light-vessels there are but 
three. The tender had also brought out a 

173 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

radio man, who had been enjoying a week's 
leave ashore. 

The light-ship is equipped with wireless 
sending and receiving apparatus, which keeps 
her continuously in touch with shore and 
greatly increases her efficiency. She also 
carries a radio compass, which gives incom- 
ing vessels their bearings to the fraction of a 
degree. The newest equipment is a radio 
telephone, which enables her crew in their 
remote and very unstable home to enjoy a 
variety of entertainment. 

Incoming vessels may gain a surprising 
variety of information from this lonely sta- 
tion. She displays at her masthead a power- 
ful light, visible many miles at sea. The 
latest weather signals are flashed by radio 
or displayed in code by her flags. In com- 
mon with other light-ships guarding New 
York Harbor, the Ambrose Light-ship is 
equipped with powerful fog-horns for use 
in thick weather. The apparatus is in du- 
plicate, so that in case of a breakdown for 
any cause the warning signal may be con-< 
tinued without interruption. 

Still another set of warning signals is 

174 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

sent out from these light-ships by means of 
their submarine bells. The heavy bells are 
suspended on the side of the vessel from 
twenty-five to thirty feet below the surface., 
The mechanism is operated by compressed 
air. Each vessel sends out in this manner 
a definite signal of its own, so that any ves- 
sel picking up the signal will readily recog- 
nize the sending station and be able to fix its 
position. 

In order to pick up these submarine bell 
signals a vessel must of course be equipped 
with a special receiving apparatus. This con- 
sists of a sensitive receiver placed on each 
side of the outer surface of the hull, well 
below the water-line. Each of these receivers 
is connected by wires with the ship's bridge, 
where they are connected with ordinary tele- 
phone receivers. By facing forward with 
one of these receivers to either ear, the ship's 
officer can readily get the position of the 
sending station. When the signals are heard 
only on one side, the signals are known to 
be coming from that general direction. 

When the signals are heard with equal dis- 
tinctness by both ears, the navigating officer 

175 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

may be sure his vessel is headed directly for 
the light-ship sending the signals, and this 
gives him his bearings in the thickest 
weather. The normal range of the subma- 
rine bell signals is fifteen miles. 

The somewhat tub-like lines of the light- 
vessel have been found to offer the best 
resistance to bad weather in this exposed po- 
sition. Above everything else steadiness and 
ease of motion are required if the warning 
lights are to prove efficient. The comfort of 
the crew is also to be considered. The ship's 
lines are designed as far as possible to con- 
trol both the rolling and pitching of the 
vessel. 

The hull is designed very full both fore and 
aft, which serves to increase the displace- 
ment rapidly when the vessel pitches into the 
sea. The latest designs are also furnished 
with bilge-keels, long flanges running on 
the sides below the water-line, which steady 
the vessel in rough weather and reduce her 
rolling. The position of the ballast, which 
may be readily shifted, can also be used to 
reduce the ship's motion. Every trick known 
to modern ship-building is employed to re- 

176 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

duce as far as possible both pitching and 
roiling of the light-ship. 

The light-ship is built with a number of 
water-tight bulkheads below the main deck, 
which increase the stiffness of the vessel, en- 
abling her to ride out the worst storms the 
North Atlantic can muster against her. She 
is of course securely tethered. The metal 
sides of the light-ship are, besides, much 
heavier than those of other ships of her size. 

The bulkheads render the light-ship vir- 
tually unsinkable, come what may. The light- 
ship may be partly wrecked and her upper 
works carried away by storms, or she may be 
cut in two by a collision, but her stout hull 
and bulkheads will continue to keep her afloat 
and enable her to hang on to her moorings 
and display guiding lights to passing traffic 
when they are most desperately needed. 

The anchors for holding the light-ships 
against the severest storms are especially 
designed for the purpose. They are of the 
mushroom type, which bite deep into the 
bed of the ocean. Such an anchor frequently 
weighs seven thousand pounds and is built 
of cast-steeL An ingenious plan has been 

177 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

devised for relieving the strain on anchors 
in deep water and especially exposed posi- 
tions. 

A large round mooring-buoy especially 
constructed to resist the pressure of the wa- 
ter is fastened by shackles to a submerged 
part of the chain. In this position it car- 
ries a considerable part of the weight of the 
chain and also relieves the strain on the ves- 
self as it surges back and forth in rough 
waters. 

The mooring-chains of the light-ship are 
very heavy. These appear at first glance 
out of all proportion to the ship's tonnage 
and suggest comic pictures of a very small 
dog tethered by an absurdly bulky chain.; 
Special care has been taken in designing this 
mooring-gear. The chain comes into the ship 
through a large central hawse-pipe which 
is especially protected and is usually oper- 
ated by a steam-engine. The chain of an 
ordinary steamer, if subjected to as great 
a relative strain as that of the light-ship, 
would be pulled out by the roots. 

Since a chain is only as strong as its 
weakest link, the mooring-chains of the light- 

178 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

ships are designed and constructed with 
every possible precaution.; The main moor- 
ing-chain of the light-ship is made of links 
formed of the best quality of double-refined 
wrought-iron one and five eighths inches in 
diameter. Before being accepted they are 
subjected to a strain of more than eighty 
thousand pounds. The weight of a cable a 
thousand feet in length is more than thirty 
thousand pounds. 

In the early types of light-ships there were 
no engines or sails. They must be towed to 
and from their stations like canal-boats. In 
case they broke loose from their moorings 
in severe storms, the light-ships were abso- 
lutely helpless and were driven by the wind 
and waves, perhaps on the very reefs or other 
danger points they had been guarding., The 
modern light-ships are equipped with steam- 
engines which are kept in readiness, with 
steam up in bad weather. Should the cable 
part, the light-ship can therefore save itself. 

It is gratifying to know that the Govern- 
ment makes every possible provision for the 
comfort of the men on the light-ships. The 
early vessels had but a single deck, and the 

179 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

crew's quarters were usually below the 
water-line. Aboard the light-ship, as on 
other modern vessels, all the quarters are on 
the main deck well above the water. 

There are plenty of comfortable state- 
rooms and berths. After standing watch on 
the wind-swept decks in cold weather, the 
crew seek shelter in steam-heated cabins, 
which are comfortable even when the ship is 
sheeted up with ice. The cabins are fitted 
with sanitary plumbing systems and baths 
and, as a last touch of luxury, electric lights. 

The crews of the light-ships have the most 
liberal vacation allowance given to any of the 
men in the service. The time served and the 
relief is arranged in a system of rotation 
so that all receive the same shore leave with- 
out interfering with the working of the float- 
ing station. Each man receives a maximum 
of ninety days ashore in the year. 

The average life of a light-ship is thirty 
years, and the Government is obliged at pres- 
ent to build two new light-vessels a year to 
replace the old ones leaving the service. No 
matter what its position, each light-vessel 
makes a voyage at regular intervals to the 

180 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

nearest station to be docked and overhauled., 
The station is not allowed to go for a mo- 
ment unguarded. During the absence of the 
regular light-ship a relief ship takes her 
place. The relief ship shows the same light 
as the regular station-ship and sounds the 
same fog-signals and sends out the same 
code by its submarine bell. 

The international signals are of course 
identical. The relief ship is marked with the 
word "relief" in large black letters along her 
side which can be read as far as the vessel 
is visible. There is always a remote chance 
that while the relief ship is going from its 
port to a station or returning some vessel 
should confuse her with the regular station- 
ary light-vessel and lay her course accord- 
ingly. 

A new Diamond Shoal Light-ship was re- 
cently outfitted in New York to take up its 
perilous position off Cape Hatteras. The 
last touches were added at the lighthouse de- 
pot on Staten Island. The position she is to 
guard, thirteen miles offshore, is doubtless 
the most perilous on either seaboard, and her 
responsibility is, therefore, the greatest of 

181 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

any of the floating lighthouses in the service.; 
The new vessel is the largest in commission, 
measuring 140 feet in length, with a beam 
of thirty feet, and carrying a crew of fifteen 
men. 

Profiting by the experience of the past, the 
new light-vessel is the last word in such con- 
struction, and is probably the most com- 
pletely equipped craft of its kind in the 
world. In addition to her powerful lights, 
she carries a submarine bell signal apparatus, 
wireless sending and receiving sets, and a 
powerful fog-horn. She is the first light- 
vessel in an exposed position to be equipped 
with the new radio compass, which will warn 
ships fifty miles offshore of their position 
and enable them to avoid the dangers of the 
famous cape and its shoals. 

The design of the new light-ship is the 
result of an immense amount of study and 
experiment on the part of the ship-builders. 
The problem is unique in ship-building. Rid- 
ing as it must at anchor in so exposed a 
position and buffeted by the storms of the At- 
lantic, the vessel is constantly subjected to 
unusual strains. Unlike other sea-going 

182 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

craft she cannot seek shelter from the force 
of the wind and water by running to some 
sheltered harbor, or even dodge the storm 
by turning her back to it., 

The light-ship will ride continuously at 
anchor on the edge of the Gulf Stream, 
where it is swept back and forth day and 
night by the swirl of the water. Even in 
good weather, as good weather goes off Hat- 
teras, the relief ships have great difficulty in 
reaching the light-ship to carry supplies to 
it and to relieve its crew. Despite every ef- 
fort the vessel on the Diamond Shoals will 
frequently be isolated for weeks at a time.; 
Only good sailors, incidentally, can be trusted 
in this perilous position. 

The mooring-chains of the Diamond Shoal 
Light-ship are the heaviest in the service, but 
under the force of storms the ship has sev- 
eral times gone adrift. The powerful en- 
gines of the light-ship usually enable her to 
find shelter, so to speak, in the open sea, but 
there have been storms which have tossed the 
ships about like corks. One of these once 
lifted the light-ship completely over the shoals 
and left her, when the waters subsided, high 

183 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

and dry on a small island. A trench had to 
be dug about the ship, and powerful dredges 
had to be brought out from the mainland to 
scoop a channel to the sea. Through this 
artificial waterway the light-ship finally re- 
gained her natural element. 

Light-ships often meet with curious mis- 
haps. It is very common for them to be run 
down. The steamship Eastern City one 
night struck a New York light-ship head on. 
At another time the steamship Philadelphia 
gave the light vessel a terrific blow, cutting 
two feet into her side at a point four feet 
below the water-line. The attack came in 
the middle of the night, and of course quite 
unexpectedly, but the crew were equal to the 
situation. By quickly listing the ship far 
over they succeeded in keeping out the inrush 
of water, and in this position she was towed 
safely to New York. 

A fleet of seventy light-ships or floating 
lighthouses is maintained at present by the 
service. These vessels are constantly on 
guard at fifty-three stations widely scattered 
along our coast. Upward of a score of these 
serve as relief vessels and are held in re- 

184 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

serve, so that in case of accident (and acci- 
dents are common at such posts) a substitute 
vessel may be rushed out with the least pos- 
sible delay. A delay of a few hours in re- 
placing a light-vessel at an important post 
might lead to serious accident. 

The fifty-three stations occupied by light- 
vessels mark the approaches to harbors, 
dangerous points at sea, and important points 
on trade routes. The light-vessel is often of 
much greater service than any lighthouse. 
It may occupy a position where it would not 
be feasible or economical to build a light- 
house. It would be obviously impossible, for 
instance, to erect a lighthouse in thirty fath- 
oms of water where the Nantucket Light- 
ship rides at anchor. The light-vessel, again, 
can be readily shifted if occasion arises to 
meet new conditions, such as the changing of 
a trade route or the shifting of a shoal or 
channel. 

The greatest advantage enjoyed by these 
floating lighthouses, however, is that they 
may be placed close to a point of danger or 
even mark the exact location of shoals or 
reefs. This enables mariners to fix their po- 

185 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

sition at sea with absolute certainty. A light- 
house on shore which guards some hidden 
danger at sea is at best confusing to the 
navigator. He must make due allowance in 
laying his course for the distance between 
the points, and dare not come close-to. The 
installation of the radio compass aboard 
light-vessels marks a new era in navigation, 
since it enables all vessels within a radius of 
one hundred miles or more to lay their 
courses within less than one degree. 

The light-ship is very old. A diminutive 
vessel was anchored at the mouth of the 
Thames as early as 1732, while its fellows 
first made their appearance in American 
waters in Chesapeake Bay in 1822.; In the 
early vessels the warning signal consisted 
merely of a big lantern hung from a yard- 
arm., In the modern vessels the curious 
stumpy-looking masts hold aloft powerful 
lights.. 

These are often grouped around the mast 
in such a way that they can be lowered 
through the deck of the house to be cleaned 
and so that the lights can be extended with- 
out the crew exposing themselves. 

186 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

In the larger light-ships the lights are 
raised twenty-eight feet above the water. 
The stubby masts of the light-ship, its grat- 
ings, and the habit of painting its name or 
number very conspicuously along the entire 
length of the side, are designed to increase 
the ship's visibility, and make her easy to 
recognize. When an approaching vessel 
catches a fleeting glimpse of a light-ship, per- 
haps through the snow or fog, there will be 
no chance of mistaking her for any other 
vessel, and her warning will be quickly read. 

The light-ships on their lonely stations, in 
common with all vessels in the general vicin- 
ity of New York, may take advantage of a 
remarkable system of free medical service 
carried on through the aid of wireless elec- 
tricity. Hundreds of ships, with a population 
equal to that of a city, regularly avail them- 
selves of this service. Many lives are saved, 
and much suffering is relieved on this fleet 
widely scattered along the Atlantic coast and 
far out at sea. 

Although virtually all ships carry radio, 
more than 75 per cent, are without doctors. 
There are tens of thousands of seamen at sea 

187 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

within radio hail of New York, therefore, 
without access to any physician. As a class 
they are a hardy lot, to be sure — much health- 
ier than the average landlubber — but medi- 
cal aid is nevertheless often badly needed at 
sea. The percentage of accidents to sea- 
men from falling from the rigging or down 
hatchways in rough weather is large, and a 
man's life may depend upon the early ar- 
rival of the doctor. Such diseases as pto- 
maine poisoning and appendicitis are com- 
paratively common at sea, when delay in ob- 
taining medical attention is very dangerous. 
The possibilities of wireless medical ser- 
vice were discovered in the early days of 
radio work.. Many ship's, on finding them- 
selves in need of a doctor, succeeded in ob- 
taining medical advice from a considerable 
distance. They called for help, sending out 
the alarm on the chance of picking up a ship 
carrying a doctor, or some land station which 
could put them in touch with medical aid. 
It was at best a hit-or-miss way of calling 
the doctor, which could never be depended 
upon. A call might be thrown out for hours 
before bringing help, and in case of serious 

188 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

accident or illness the delay might prove 
fatal. 

Even when a vessel calling for such assist- 
ance was within striking distance of a great 
port, it often proved very difficult to get at- 
tention. A score of stations might pick up 
the call, but they would have no physician on 
hand. In case a vessel belong to no particu- 
lar line, there was again the question of com- 
pensation for the doctor, and the expense of 
sending long messages. Even when a doc- 
tor was found the ship had little or no as- 
surance that the advice, on which a man's 
life might depend, could be relied upon. 

The wireless medical service has been in- 
telligently organized under the direction of 
the Seaman's Church Institute, which meets 
the expense of the undertaking. The service 
is available at any moment throughout the 
day or night. A vigilant watch is main- 
tained, several men regularly standing guard 
listening in for their calls. Several phy- 
sicians and surgeons have been secured who 
can be reached by telephone at a moment's 
notice. Let a call for help be sent out from 
any place along the Atlantic coast or even 

189 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

from mid-Atlantic, and it is certain to be 
picked up by these operators. 

In organizing the radio medical service 
it was found necessary to agree upon a com- 
mon signal. The wireless men in calling for 
medical aid at first used the familiar SOS, 
which, as all the world knows, indicates that 
a ship is in need of help. On hearing this call 
all radio stations at once stop sending, giving 
the call precedence over all others. On learn- 
ing that the call was for medical assistance 
and met from a ship in distress the stations 
were uncertain if they should proceed with 
their regular affairs, and confusion often 
followed. 

The radio signal for medical assistance i$ 
H D K E, which conveys the message, "Help 
wanted for an individual." It is understood 
among radio stations along the coast that 
this call takes precedence over all other wire- 
less signals with the single exception of the 
SOS. On hearing this signal every station 
stops sending and listens in for further in- 
formation. If their assistance be needed they 
will relay the signal and stand by to assist, 
In case the vessel calling for help is within 

190 



ABOARD THE LIGHT-SHIP 

striking distance of New York, the station 
will not offer its help, but will cease all send- 
ing if it interferes, giving the vessel and the 
doctor a clear field, or rather sky, to transmit 
the necessary questions and replies.; 

Let a H D K E be picked up, however, 
from the Atlantic, and the machinery so care- 
fully organized in advance is instantly set 
in motion. The antenna raised atop the 
tower of the Seaman's Institute for this pur- 
pose is quick to detect such a call. No matter 
what the hour of the day or night the watch 
is sleepless and alert. A moment before the 
call is heard the air above New York may be 
busy with various wireless messages, but 
these instantly cease and the attention of the 
station is fixed on the call for help. If a doc- 
tor is not actually in the institute there is 
certain to be one at the other end of the tele- 
phone ready to receive the call. 

Every effort has been made in advance by 
the institute to furnish ships with supplies 
which may be needed in such an emergency, 
and to train seamen to administer first aid 
and carry out the doctor's directions. In the 
old days a sailer imagined that he was doing 

191 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

an injured mate a service by applying dirty 
oakum to a wound. To-day his stores prob- 
ably contain antiseptic cotton and bandages 
and a clinical thermometer, and the crew 
contains some man, perhaps several, who can 
intelligently use these supplies* 



192 



CHAPTER XII 

GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

UNDER the Spanish or Mexican control 
of the Pacific coast not a single beacon 
was lighted, nor any other aids to navigation 
established, in all these waters. It was not 
until 1848 that any definite plans were sug- 
gested for safeguarding the long coast-line- 
It was then proposed to erect lights at Cape 
Disappointment, at the mouth of the Colum- 
bia River, and at the entrance to Puget 
Sound, and to establish buoys from the 
mouth of the Columbia River to Astoria. 
Money was not forthcoming, however, and 
no work was done. 

The discovery of gold in 1849 an d the rush 
to California naturally quickened interest in 
the plans. A year later nine lighthouses 
were proposed with fog signals and a system 
of buoys along the California and Oregon 

i93 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

coasts. In 1854 the first light on the Pacific 
coast was kindled, the Alcatraz Light, on an 
island in San Francisco Bay. 

There was no lack of interest at Washing- 
ton in the rapidly growing commerce of the 
Pacific, but the difficulties were naturally 
great. It required sixty days for a letter to 
pass between Washington and San Francisco. 
All equipment and supplies for lighthouses 
must be carried around Cape Horn, and the 
trip was long and perilous. One vessel car- 
rying material for building five lighthouses' 
was lost, and the material had to be labori- 
ously replaced. It was estimated at the time 
that all aids to navigation on the Pacific cost 
at least four times as much as on the Atlantic 
coast. 

Not the least danger in placing aids to 
navigation along the coast-line was the hos- 
tility of the Indians. The material for build- 
ing lighthouses included an adequate number 
of muskets and ammunition for fighting the 
redskins. In the long history of lighthouse 
building with its many perils, here was an 
entirely new complication. When the light- 
house was completed at Cape Flattery the 

194 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

light-keeper resigned his post because of the 
danger of Indians. 

All things considered, the progress in es- 
tablishing aids to navigation in this region 
progressed very rapidly. The first fog sig- 
nal on the Pacific was soon established at 
Bonita Point Light Station at the entrance 
to San Francisco. It consisted of a twenty- 
four-pound gun, which was fired in foggy 
weather every half -hour. In 1856 three fog- 
bells had been established. 

The first light-ship on the Pacific coast, 
which was the first steam tender in the en- 
tire service on either seaboard, reached San 
Francisco in 1857. The Shubrink, as she was 
named, was built in Philadelphia. She was a 
side-wheeler of small dimensions, but she 
made the trip through the Straits of Ma- 
gellan under her own steam. An important 
part of her equipment was a supply of guns 
for fighting Indians. The men in the service 
were called "Bostons" by the Indians, since 
many of them came from the East, and their 
intrusion was bitterly resented. 

The Pacific coast enjoys a great advan- 
tage over the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, or 

195 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

the Great Lakes in being very bold and 
breaking down to the sea in prominent head- 
lands. Even a comparatively low tower 
built on a high elevation possesses a suffi- 
cient geographic range. On the low beaches 
in other parts of the United States it is often 
necessary to build high towers to get the 
same effectiveness of range. Fewer lights 
are therefore needed on the Pacific than on 
any other coast-line. 

The most elevated light in American 
water burns at Cape Mendocino. The light- 
house tower is only twenty feet in height, but 
it stands atop a cliff which rises sheer from 
the Pacific for 402 feet. The light which is 
so familiar to all mariners of the western 
coast has a candle-power of 340,000. It 
burns steadily for ten seconds every thirty 
seconds and is visible for twenty-eight miles 
at sea. Point Cabrillo, a few miles south, 
has a light of 650,000 candle-power. 

The Farallones Light, situated twenty- 
three miles off the Golden Gate, also has a 
great range because of its elevation. It oc- 
cupies the highest point on the Farallones 
Islands. Although the tower itself is but 

196 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

forty-one feet high, the light shines from an 
elevation of 358 feet above the sea-level. 

The most isolated floating light-buoy in 
the world, which is also the southernmost 
light in the service, rides off Point Loma, 
eighty-eight miles from the mainland and 
forty-one miles from the nearest land, the 
San Clemente Island. It is equipped with a 
powerful light and whistle. 

In building many of the Pacific coast light- 
houses on lonely islands or reefs far offshore, 
the difficulties encountered have been even 
more baffling than on the Atlantic seaboard 
or the Scottish coast. The St. George Rock 
Lighthouse, for example, is built upon a 
rock which rises abruptly from the sea six 
miles off the California coast. The isle is 
only three hundred feet in diameter and 
fifty-four feet above the water, and most of 
the time it is swept by the sea. 

It was impossible for the lighthouse build- 
ers to live on this rock while work was in 
progress. Throughout the work the men 
were obliged to live aboard a schooner which 
was anchored near-by. They were carried 
from the schooner to the rock and returned 

197 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

daily by means of an iron cage attached to a 
cable, one end being fastened to the rock and 
the other to the upper part of the schooner's 
mast. The work was rendered especially 
dangerous by the sudden storms which rise 
in that locality. In a few hours a dead 
calm would be followed by high seas which 
swept everything from the rocks. At one 
time it was only found possible to make three 
landings on the rocks in four months. 

The schooner in which the men lived was 
secured by seven anchors, but in the great 
storms of this region it could not be kept at 
its post. The tender which brought sup- 
plies from land could, on one of its trips, find 
no trace whatever of the schooner, and only 
after a search of several days discovered it 
many miles away from the rocks. A light 
was kindled in this lonely beacon in 1892. 

An even more baffling problem was en- 
countered in building the famous Tillamook, 
which guards a particularly dangerous re- 
gion of the Oregon coast. Tillamook stands 
about three thousand miles almost directly 
west of the Minot Light at Boston, which 
illustrates the magnificent distances that sep- 

198 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

arate our coast-line. A fleet of ships is con- 
stantly passing this region on their way to 
and from the Columbia River. For a long 
distance the coast-line is extremely treacher- 
ous and forbidding. It rises in cliffs to a 
height of fifteen hundred feet or more, which 
at many points drop sheer into the sea. The 
irregular shore line is frequently hidden by 
dense mists or swept by furious gales. A 
ship caught inshore by one of these storms 
has no chance of escape. 

The Tillamook Rocks rise abruptly from 
the sea in a particularly exposed position one 
mile off shore and twenty miles below the 
mouth of the Columbia River. The rocks 
rise abruptly to a height of 120 feet and are 
jagged and menacing. The value of a light 
atop these rocks has long been recognized. 
The mainland behind them is too high for a ' 
lighthouse and is often veiled in thick mists. 
The Tillamook is usually clear of clouds and 
mists. 

Three is no safe landing-place on the rocks. 
The only segment of its boundary where a 
boat may venture in is a sharp slope on the 
east side, and this is dangerous under the 

199 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

most favorable conditions. Even in mild 
weather the waves continually break high on 
the rock. The Lighthouse Board sanctioned 
the construction of a lighthouse here in 1879. 
It was six months, however, before the en- 
gineer in charge could make a landing. One 
day when the sea appeared to be particu- 
larly smooth, a boat carrying the engineer 
and two assistants succeeded in approaching 
the rocks, but only to find them encircled by 
a ring of breakers ; and they were obliged to 
return without having landed. Day after 
day the party rowed out to the rocks over a 
sea which showed scarcely a ripple, only to 
find it impossible to land. On the days when 
the sea was calm a treacherous swell held 
them offshore. 

After a dozen such attempts the boat was 
one day skilfully manceuvered near the rocks, 
and two men were safely landed. It was 
found impossible, however, to land any in- 
struments for making measurements. Find- 
ing themselves alone and isolated on the 
rocks, the two men became frightened, 
jumped into the sea, and were pulled into the 
boat. The engineer in charge of the work 

200 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

ordered boats once more inshore, and, stand- 
ing at the prow as the boat plunged in the 
surf, at last managed to jump ashore. He 
carried a tape-line, but no instruments could 
be landed. 

The sea was already rising and the 
chances of leaving the rock grew less every 
minute. The engineer, working at top 
speed, ran about the rocks making hurried 
measurements, which he jotted down. He 
managed to regain the boat. Although the 
measurements were very sketchy, they suf- 
ficed to make out a report of the materials 
needed; and the nature of the building on 
the rocks was determined. 

A further survey was required to decide 
upon the best position for the lighthouse, and 
another landing was attempted. The rocks 
were found to be very treacherous, and on 
jumping from the boat the engineer slipped 
and was carried away by a great wave. He 
was unable to reach the rope thrown out, and 
the boat after a long search was obliged to 
return without him. 

Public sentiment throughout the region 
was against making another attempt to build 

201 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

on the rocks. So many lives had already 
been lost thereabouts that it was thought sui- 
cidal to persist. Finally the engineer in 
charge, A. Ballantyn, and eight skilled quar- 
rymen who had volunteered for the work 
succeeded after many failures in landing on 
the rock, where they were isolated from all 
communication with the shore by the 
weather. 

They reached shore again in safety, when 
the autumn gales suddenly made all approach 
to the rocks impossible. It was feared with 
reason that if the men who had landed on 
the rock reached the city and told the story 
of their adventures, no men would be found 
to face the danger of landing, and the men 
therefore were taken to another place until 
the arrangements were completed. 

After weeks of waiting four men finally 
succeeded in landing on the rock with a few 
tools. Heavy seas soon arose which broke 
over the top of the highest point of the rocks, 
1 20 feet above the water. The men were 
drenched and were obliged to live for days in 
this condition. Landings were finally made 
upon the rock by means of a breeches-buoy, 

202 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

rigged from the mast of a vessel anchored 
near the island to the top of the rocks and 
pulled taut. When the rope sagged the men 
on their way between the ship and the rocks 
had a ducking and had to be dragged for a 
considerable distance under the water. 

The work proceeded under staggering 
difficulties. It rained daily and the spray 
from the rough seas drenched everything. It 
was found exceedingly difficult to keep dry 
the powder used for blasting. The tents 
on which the workmen sought shelter were 
frequently blown down or carried away. All 
cooking had to be done in the open. During 
one storm the wind beat upon the rocks with 
hurricane force, covering it with spray, de- 
stroyed the shelters, and washed away the 
supplies, including the fresh water. The 
rocks were so wet that walking was a danger- 
ous experiment, and the men must do hard 
manual labor on the slippery rocks beset on 
every side by danger. 

The lighthouse, with its outbuildings, was 
completed in 575 days and was first lighted in 
1 88 1. It comprises a group of buildings, 
which shelters four light-keepers. The po- 

203 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

sition is considered in the service a very- 
lonely and dangerous one. The light has a 
strength of 160,000 candle-power, and is 
visible for eighteen miles offshore. The 
equipment includes powerful fog sirens 
which are driven by steam. Their raucous 
voice may be heard above the gales for miles. 
With these warnings the menace of this 
rocky coast, which once rilled the minds of 
many sailors, is no longer to be dreaded. 

There are several notable lighthouses in 
the Pacific which are operated automatically. 
Although the lights have considerable power 
and are depended upon to guard points of 
danger on frequented ship lanes, the posts 
are unattended and indeed rarely visited. 
One of the most interesting of these stands 
on a wave-swept rock known as Richardson 
Rock at the western extremity of the Santa 
Barbara Islands, off Point Conception. A 
steel tower has been erected here which rises 
to a height of 123 feet above the sea. It is 
an acetylene light and will burn continuously 
for six months on one charge of gas. It 
was first lighted in 19 12. 

A similar light has been placed on Redding 

204 



ft 






Types of Unattended Lights 



*^W 






03 



Si 



o 



H 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

Rocks, which lie four and a half miles off the 
northern coast of California. The rocky 
point is extremely remote and difficult to 
reach. It is found very dangerous to land 
upon the rocks even when the infrequent 
visits are made to replenish fuel. One of the 
advantages of an unattended light, which 
burns without attention for six months, is 
that the tender may wait weeks if necessary 
for good weather before attempting a land- 
ing. 

On one occasion six men were marooned 
on the Richardson Rock and were obliged to 
spend the night there without protection. 
On the following day they were taken off by 
the use of heroic measures. A rope was 
thrown from the tender to each man in turn, 
who tied it securely about his waist, and 
jumped into the sea, to be dragged for a 
considerable distance under water to the 
ship's side. 

The unattended light is a great triumph of 
the skill of the modern engineer and chemist, 
and promises to become much more common 
in the future. As the world's commerce in- 
creases and frequents the most remote chan- 

205 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

nels, far from civilization, it is imperative 
that many new lights be placed at isolated 
places. It is of course possible to find men 
who will live in these lonely stations, but the 
sacrifice is great. Many pathetic stories 
might be told of light-keepers who have gone 
insane in their stations. 

The idea of operating these lights by ma- 
chinery is comparatively old, but for a long 
time navigators were skeptical of their value. 
A lighthouse, to be dependable, must be 
counted upon to shine every night without 
interruption. If it cannot be counted upon, 
should there be even a slight chance of fail- 
ure, its value is greatly diminished. Every 
year, however, the navigators gain confidence 
in the faithfulness of the unattended light. 

In no section of our long coast-line have 
aids to navigation of various forms been 
multiplied so rapidly in recent years as in 
Alaskan waters. When Russia owned this 
territory, she maintained but one light, a 
small one, at Sitka. There are to-day more 
than six hundred lights, buoys, and day- 
marks of various forms. Little was done to 

206 



GUARDING THE PACIFIC 

guard the dangers of these waters until about 
twenty-five years ago. 

In the last ten years the number of aids to 
navigation has been increased about 500 per 
cent. The light stations at Scotch Cape and 
Cape Sarichef in southwestern Alaska have 
recently been provided with radio telephones, 
which greatly assist to keep these isolated 
points in communication with their bases and 
with ships at sea and greatly increase their 
effectiveness. 

The geography of our northernmost pos- 
session is unfamiliar. Alaska has a coast- 
line of 7300 miles, while the combined coast- 
line on the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and 
the Pacific is but 4884 miles. The Alaskan 
coast is extremely intricate, with many pre- 
cipitous shores and hidden reefs and many 
dangerous tides and currents. Conditions 
are for the most part the same as at the arc- 
tic, and the difficulties of navigation are 
baffling. Even in the summer months fogs, 
rains, and storms are common., 

By a fortunate chance, during the summer 
season, when shipping is heaviest in these 

207 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

waters, Alaska enjoys virtually twenty-four 
hours of daylight and the darker hours of the 
night are short. In winter when the long 
arctic night complicates the dangers of the 
coast there is little shipping to protect. The 
coast-line at present is so long in propor- 
tion to its population, and the permanency of 
the present trade routes is so uncertain, that 
the work of the lighthouse service is very 
difficult* 



208 



CHAPTER XIII 

SENTINELS ON THE GREAT LAKES 

A SINGLE channel of the Great Lakes, 
the Sault Sainte Marie Canal, attracts 
several times as much tonnage as the 
Suez Canal, and more than twice that of all 
the vessels in foreign trade entering and 
clearing from New York., In the course of 
a year the net tonnage of vessels passing 
through the canal totals about seventy mil- 
lion. Until recently more money has been 
spent in lighting the shores of Lake Michi- 
gan alone than on the ocean or gulf shore- 
line of any other State. To-day the traffic 
lines across the Great Lakes are as well 
lighted as any in the world. 

In protecting the great shipping of our 
inland seas the lighthouse service has faced 
unprecedented problems. The passages are 
often intricate. The comparatively shallow 
water again compels the use of boats of light 
draft. The distances between ports are 

209 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

great, and the shore-lines are not only ex- 
tended but in many places rugged and tor- 
tuous and beset with dangerous reefs. 

The old enemies of the lighthouses, the 
wind and waves, are no less formidable 
here than on the Atlantic or the Pacific, 
while a new foe, the ice-fields, serves to com- 
plicate the problem. The ice-fields sweep 
against the lighthouses and other aids to 
navigation with the force of glaciers. In 
many places the waters carry them at a rate 
of three or four miles an hour, thus develop- 
ing an almost irresistible force. The long 
list of famous engineers who have been build- 
ing wave-swept lighthouses in many coun- 
tries has never known the ice problem con- 
fronted in America.. 

The navigation of the Great Lakes is curi- 
ously complicated by the fact that a large pro- 
portion of the boats in these waters carry ore, 
and the presence of so much metal is likely 
to affect the compass and the calculation of 
the navigator. The depth of the waters in 
the lakes, again, varies widely, and sound- 
ings taken of the water are often mislead- 
ing, 

210 



SENTINELS ON THE GREAT LAKES 

In sailing along a dangerous sea-coast, 
again, a vessel can usually escape the danger 
of reefs or shoals by keeping well offshore. 
There is little time when the mariner of the 
Great Lakes is out of sight of land, and much 
of the time he must watch the dangers of 
two coasts, one on either side. Still another 
difficulty arises from the fact that the water 
of the Great Lakes is fresh. In the winter 
when the temperature falls, ice forms much 
more quickly than upon the sea with its salt 
water. 

The commerce of the Great Lakes is vir- 
tually a half-year traffic. The winter's ice 
closes most of the ships' courses. During 
this season most of the lights are turned off. 
Many of the buoys and other portable aids 
to navigation are brought in for the winter.; 
The keepers of the lighthouses are taken off 
their stations at the more isolated points 
before the ice-fields cut them off from com- 
munication with the outside world. Many 
automatic lights have been established at im- 
portant posts, which continue to burn 
throughout the winter months. The Cana- 
dian Government shares with the United 

211 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

States the expense of protecting navigation 
on the Great Lakes, except in the case of 
Lake Michigan. 

The importance of lighting these channels 
of the Great Lakes was appreciated early in 
the history of their commerce. Two lights 
were lit on Lake Erie as early as 1810, or 
a half a century before those on the Pacific. 
By 1 81 8 Buffalo and Erie had their light- 
houses, and in 1837 one was built at Detroit. 
Two lighthouse tenders, both sailing craft, 
appeared in the Great Lakes a few years 
later, and the rapid improvement in the serv- 
ice is indicated by the fact that a steam 
lighthouse tender was on duty in 1867. 
There are at present more than seven hun- 
dred lights and a thousand other aids to navi- 
gation distributed about the Great Lakes and 
their tributary rivers — a surprisingly large 
proportion of all the aids to navigation in 
the lighthouse service. 

The construction of the lighthouses on 
partly submerged reefs, when work is only 
possible at low water and under favorable 
weather conditions, has been considered the 
greatest achievement in this branch of engi- 

212 



SENTINELS ON THE GREAT LAKES 

neering. Several lighthouses have been 
erected in American waters, however, where 
the foundations were submerged to a consid- 
erable depth even at low water. Two great 
lighthouses have been built, for instance, on 
the Great Lakes, by first constructing coffer- 
dams to protect the workers. The water was 
then pumped out, disclosing the bed-rock. 
The rock was leveled off and a foundation 
blasted deep into it, and upon it the base 
of the lighthouse was built of cut stone se- 
curely bound. 

In building the lighthouse on Spectacle 
Reef, Lake Huron, an entirely unique prob- 
lem was solved. The dangers of this posi- 
tion have perhaps no parallel in any Euro- 
pean structure. The reef is menaced by 
great ice-floes. At certain seasons these ice- 
fields move at a rate of two or three miles an 
hour, thus exerting an immense force upon 
any object in their path. A lighthouse which 
would successfully stand up against the beat- 
ing of great waves would be carried away by 
this slow resistless pressure, which moves 
with the inevitability of a glacier. 

The reef lies near the Strait of Mackinac, 

213 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

leading to Lake Michigan, and therefore 
menaces the immense shipping along this 
trade route. It would be hard to fix upon a 
more difficult place for building the founda- 
tion for a lighthouse. The reef is covered 
by seven feet of water and is more than ten 
miles from the nearest land of Bois Island. 
The reefs gain their name from the fact that 
there are two groups of rocks placed like the 
lenses of a pair of spectacles. The erection 
of a light in this position was one of the bold- 
est undertakings in the history of the service. 
The general form of the Minot Light at 
Boston was taken as a model. The work was 
intrusted to General O. M. Poe, who had 
served as engineer-in-chief to General Sher^ 
man. The first step was to lay a sound foun* 
dation in ten feet of water. Since the work 
could not be completed in the summer months 
before the ice-floes formed, heroic efforts 
were made to combat the perils of the winter. 
Instead of employing divers, a great coffer- 
dam was built, which in turn was protected 
by successive ramparts to withstand the 
force of the ice and waves. The nearest base 
on the mainland was sixteen miles distant., 

214 



SENTINELS ON THE GREAT LAKES 

The first coffer-dam was put in position, 
and then a second structure was built about 
this to a height of twenty-four feet. Im- 
mense quantities of stone were brought out 
from land and used for filling. A space was 
left at the center about forty-eight feet 
square. A great cylindrical coffer-dam built 
of staves was then lowered into this pro- 
tected water. 

The cylinder descended until it hit the 
highest point of the rocky bottom of the sea 
when it was naturally checked. Here the in- 
genuity of the engineers came into play. 
The staves forming the barrel-like structure 
were then driven down until they fitted the 
bed of the lake, forming virtually a water- 
tight compartment. 

The water was then pumped out and kept 
out while the workmen descended and leveled 
off the face of the rocks thus exposed. A 
firm foundation was secured and a massive 
stone tower erected. It measured eighteen 
feet in diameter and rises to a height of 
eighty feet. The tower contains five rooms 
for the light-keepers. 

The structure has been very skilfully de- 

215 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

signed to withstand the force of the ice-floes. 
Its lines are so drawn that the great ice- 
fields will break on coming in contact with 
the base, thus piling up and forming a pro- 
tecting barrier, which in turn offers great 
resistance to new ice-fields. ; Although the 
base is only thirty-two feet in diameter, the 
ice piles up to surprising heights without 
shaking the tower. 

The most isolated light in American waters 
is that rising from the Stannard Rock in 
Lake Superior. It is twenty-four miles from 
the nearest shore and marks a dangerous 
reef. One might naturally expect to find so 
isolated a light only on the sea-coast. It is 
this combination of long trade routes and 
comparatively shallow waters which renders 
the navigation on the Great Lakes so diffi- 
cult. 

The lighthouse stands in eleven feet of 
water and is constructed in a protective pier, 
Since it was impossible to build directly upon 
the reef because of its submersion, a founda- 
tion was obtained by first sinking a wrought- 
iron cylinder. The cylinder measures sixty- 

216 



SENTINELS ON THE GREAT LAKES 

two feet in diameter and thirty-five feet in 
height. 

Unusual difficulties were confronted in 
transferring so heavy and bulky an object 
far out to sea, when a storm would endanger 
the entire enterprise. Once in position, the 
cylinder was filled with concrete. The light- 
house tower rises from this foundation to a 
height of 1 20 feet. The cost of construc- 
tion was $300,000, which makes it one of 
the most expensive aids in the entire service., 

One of the most attractive lights on the 
Great Lakes, known as the Rock of Ages, 
rises from the waters of Lake Superior at a 
point west of Isle Royal. It stands on a mas- 
sive concrete pier, built on the rocky bottom 
of the lake. The tower is built of brick, an 
unusual material for the purpose, which 
makes it very distinctive. It rises to a height 
of 135 feet. Because of its extremely re- 
mote position, the Rock of Ages is very 
hard to reach even in good weather. The 
light-keeper of the Rock of Ages enjoys the 
distinction — if he does enjoy it — of living 
in a tower entirely surrounded by water with 

217 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

the nearest land twenty-four miles distant. 
It is probably the loneliest home in America. 

Few places in the Great Lakes are more 
dreaded than the White Shoals at the en- 
trance to the Strait of Mackinac. This was 
at first marked by a light-ship anchored 
above the shoals. In 1910 an appropriation 
of $225,000 was made for a lighthouse at 
this spot. A great timber crib seventy-two 
feet square and eighteen feet high was first 
built on shore and floated out to the shoals. 
The water at this point is twenty-two feet 
in depth. 

The crib was filled with stone and a con- 
crete pier built atQp of it, which in turn 
served as the base of the lighthouse. The 
tower is 125 feet in height. Its equipment 
is unusually complete. A light of 360,000 
candle-power has been installed here which 
throws out a white flash every eight seconds. 
The tower also contains an air fog-whistle 
and a submarine bell. 

The lighthouse at Racine Reef on the west 
shore of Lake Michigan, unlike the others, 
is kept alight throughout the year, and since 
it is not an unattended light several men 

218 



SENTINELS ON THE GREAT LAKES 

must face this long isolation. The light- 
keeper in this exposed position lives in a 
structure which is often completely incased 
in ice for several months at a time. The ice 
covering the windows is frequently eight 
inches thick. The vibration of the light- 
house in the winter storms is so great that the 
furniture of the rooms has often been shifted 
several feet. 

Few river channels in the world are so 
carefully guarded as that of the Detroit 
River. The traffic is very heavy and every 
safeguard has been provided. In the course 
of a year about thirty-five thousand craft of 
various types pass through the Detroit River, 
The aids to navigation in this channel sug- 
gest those at the entrance to New York Har- 
bor, but the waters of the Detroit River have 
the added menace of the ice. 

The river channel below Detroit is marked 
by gas-buoys for a distance of six and one 
half miles. These are placed at intervals 
of a half a mile and are supplemented by spar 
buoys alternating with them. The beacons 
along the channel stand on concrete piers 
measuring twenty-two by thirty-five feet, 

219 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

which are provided with ice-breakers pro- 
tected by steel plating. These point up- 
stream, from which the greatest pressure is 
exerted. These aids are supplemented by 
the Detroit River Light. 

The most elaborate lighthouse in the en- 
tire service is doubtless the Memorial Light- 
house at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. 
It was built to commemorate the three hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of Lake 
Champlain. The tower is an ornamental 
cylinder built of cut granite blocks. It is sur- 
rounded by eight Doric columns, and the 
pedestal supports a heroic group in bronze. 



220 



CHAPTER XIV 

OUR INLAND WATERS 

IN safeguarding navigation along our in- 
tricate inland waters a very large part 
of the work is done by unattended lights and 
other aids. The word "lighthouse" calls up 
a mental picture of a great tower at some 
lonely point, with its light-keeper, and per- 
haps his family. It is the lighthouse, of 
course, which stands guard over the more 
familiar points of danger, especially at har- 
bor entrances or on menacing coasts. But it 
is the unattended beacons of a hundred dif- 
ferent forms, after all, which make possible 
the immense water traffic of the country. 

On any river trip the boats both large and 
small are dependent, literally at every turn, 
upon these warning signals. To the ex- 
perienced eye of the pilot they give exact in- 
formation of the channel's position at every 
bend. The great commerce of our inland 
waters, carried by tens of thousands of craft, 

221 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

moves so smoothly and safely in countless 
channels that the passenger forgets the years 
of preparation and the constant vigilance 
which makes this possible. 

Stand on the forward deck of a river boat 
on some dark night, and you will see only the 
shadowy outlines of the shores, or pitch 
darkness. Watch closely, and you will catch 
at every turn the twinkle of a light whose 
position and color guides the boat with per- 
fect precision past every danger. Our safety 
is so well assured that we take this omni- 
present system of signals as a matter of 
course. 

The simplest forms of lighthouse con- 
struction are the post .lights. These consist 
often of a single timber post with a shelf or 
bracket for holding the lantern. Many of 
these stand so low that the light may be 
tended by standing on the ground. The taller 
post lights are reached by short ladders. If 
the signal is to serve during the day, wooden 
wing boards are often added, which are 
fastened to the post and indicate the direction 
of the channel or some observation-point 
ashore. 

222 



OUR INLAND WATERS 

These signals are rendered conspicuous 
by various color schemes. The construc- 
tion is entirely open and unprotected except 
in some cases when a small service-box is 
added to hold the lantern and supplies. If 
these simple beacons are placed above the 
water, a single pile, either of timber or con- 
crete, is used. 

If the light be more important, it is often 
raised to a considerable height on a tower 
built of timbers. A simple construction of 
four posts is usually employed with a sub- 
stantial foundation. The greater weight 
usually calls for careful framing and bracing. 
When such structures rise from the water, 
three or more piles are driven well into the 
earth, and a cluster formed at the top for 
holding the light and service-box. The top 
is reached by an iron ladder. 

Such structures are only used, of course, 
in quiet waters, where there is little strain 
upon the foundations, and a boat can easily 
be brought alongside. No attempt is made 
to make these forms artistic, but their simple 
lines, especially when viewed from a distance, 
by no means disfigure the shore-lines.. 

223 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

The engineers of the service are constantly 
at work on new designs for all types of light- 
houses, and the post lights have received 
special attention. One of the latest improve- 
ments of this type is a structural skeleton- 
steel tower, or a tower of iron piping. Both 
these designs have been standardized and can 
be produced quickly and cheaply. The latest 
land posts consist of square steel towers 
very strongly braced. Special attention is 
paid to guarding against the corrosion of the 
metal, so that once installed they will stand 
in exposed positions for long periods with- 
out attention. 

Even the simplest structures used in water 
are very substantial. The foundations rest 
firmly on concrete piles. There may be four, 
seven or nine of these piles, and the up- 
rights are braced with cast-iron struts and 
other bracing. These designs have also been 
standardized, so that a post light of any 
size may be ordered by number and delivered 
and rushed to any desired point within a few 
hours. The saving of time in planting such 
a light structure or replacing a fallen or dam- 

224 



OUR INLAND WATERS 

aged light is an important consideration* 
Virtually all these types are used at present 
only for unattended lights. The new steel 
structures make certain that the lights thus 
placed will "stay put." 

Probably the most familiar of these bea- 
cons, because of their number, are the un- 
lighted standards or day-marks. In some 
forms these consist merely of a stake or post 
driven into the earth or shoal waters with a 
pointer at the top to indicate the channel. 
There are a surprising variety of these aids 
built of timbers in various designs. These 
support a target or some characteristic fea- 
ture which will attract attention and at the 
same time be sufficiently characteristic not 
to be mistaken for an advertising sign. 

The newer designs for day-marks are far 
more elaborate and are constructed of metal. 
A picturesque effect is lent by the metal 
cage- work and barrel supported by a single 
upright. In some cases monuments of stone 
are used, but these are being replaced by 
metal structures. The most recent stand- 
ardized type of day-mark is a reinforced 

225 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

steel tripod, strongly braced. The life of 
steel is of course much longer than that of 
the heaviest wooden structures. 

The lights used on these supports, which 
are known as post lights, are usually simple 
in character. A common form is an ordi- 
nary fourteen-inch hand lantern, which is 
protected by a square or triangular tin case 
with plain glazed sides. Some of the post 
lanterns, however, are especially designed 
with a one-inch flat wick and a pressed glass 
lens about eight inches in diameter, which 
increases their brilliancy. 

These may be set in a triangular case with 
glass on two or three sides, according to 
the demands of the position. In many of the 
lonely posts guarded by these lights the only 
enemies are the clouds of small insects which, 
attracted by the lights, may descend upon 
them in such numbers as to interfere with 
the ventilation. The lanterns are therefore 
protected by wire screens. 

The most elaborate structures for holding 
these post lights are designed to be equally 
serviceable by both day and night. The lan- 
terns are placed on a braced post reached by 

226 



OUR INLAND WATERS 

steps. To render the mark effective as a day- 
mark an ingenious system of wings is at- 
tached, set in an oblique position, which will 
catch the sunlight from various directions. 
To diminish the wind resistance, these wings 
are perforated or built with latticework. 

Many of these lights are temporary struc- 
tures, which may be readily moved about. 
Along some rivers where the courses are 
constantly shifting, because of caving banks, 
it is necessary to shift the lights and day- 
marks at frequent intervals. The service is 
constantly alert to make any needed changes. 
In emergencies the lights and pointers may 
even be fastened to a tree. 

Among the innumerable designs of unat- 
tended lights and day-marks, the most inter- 
esting are the echo-boards. When skilfully 
placed, even on the loneliest shores, these 
signals will throw back the whistles or the 
sound of guns as dependably as though a 
keeper made the reply. They are especially 
valuable in regions where fogs persist 
throughout the year, notably on many Cali- 
fornia rivers. 

The echo-board is a long wall-like struc- 

227 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

ture with projecting wings. It sometimes 
carries a post light, but its greatest service 
is in throwing back the whistle of passing 
steamers. To the experienced ear the echo 
gives definite information, making it pos- 
sible to lay the ship's course in the thickest 
fogs. 

An especially baffling problem confronts 
the service in the case of rivers with concave 
banks, where land-slides are constantly 
shifting the channel and crossings. The best 
plan, it has been found, is to place the lights 
so that they will indicate the general shapes 
of the land, and the positions of the cross- 
ings. In case the concave form of the bank 
abruptly shifts from One shore to the other, 
the currents must be watched with anxious 
attention. 

The lights are usually placed on the banks 
of the rivers, and the crossings are indi- 
cated by two range-lights, one ahead and the 
other astern. If the crossing is crooked a 
series of range-lights may be employed. At 
very low water the lights are sometimes 
placed on sand-bars, or in extreme cases on 
small floats or rafts. The system is inter- 

228 



OUR INLAND WATERS 

esting in illustrating the vigilance of the 
service. 

A special type of light has been devised 
for use when the channel is especially narrow 
and crooked. It is often important that the 
signal should be placed in channels filled 
with drift and floating objects. The light 
is therefore placed upon a buoy having only 
a slight tendency to float, so that floating 
objects can pass over it without displacing 
it. One type of this floating submersible 
buoy consists of a barrel-shaped body with 
metal cones at both ends. 

A slide for a lantern is provided at the 
upper end, while the buoy is moored by a 
light steel cable at the lower end with an iron 
weight for a sinker. It is in reality a gigan- 
tic fisherman's bob, which will always come 
to the surface and will not float away. Some 
of these buoys have wings at oblique angles 
to keep them from spinning in the current 
and untwisting the wire mooring-cable. 

The newest design of post lantern is made 
of brass protected by a substantial cage. 
Two one-inch flat wicks burning kerosene 
supply the light, which is thrown out by a 

229 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

pressed glass lantern eight inches in dia- 
meter. The lantern is virtually wind-proof, 
and will burn brightly in the heaviest gales. 

It is of course unnecessary to have keepers 
devoting all their time to these thousands of 
river lights. The lights are usually tended 
by people living at convenient distances, who 
are known as "laborers in 'charge." A con^ 
siderable group of lights may be tended by 
the same person. These are constantly in^ 
spected by the lighthouse tenders or Engi- 
neering Department vessels, and by the vari- 
ous craft which patrol these waters. 

All captains and pilots of river craft 
throughout the country are supplied with 
postal-cards for reporting lights that do not 
burn properly or that have met with any 
mishap. An accident to any one of these 
thousands of aids to navigation cannot go 
long undiscovered. 

There are several hundred aids to naviga- 
tion along our coasts which have been set up 
and are operated by private persons, although 
always under the control of the lighthouse 
service. It would never do, of course, for 
any one and every one to set up lights or 

230 



OUR INLAND WATERS 

other aids to navigation without strict gov- 
ernment censorship. The practice would be 
much the same as the promiscuous waving 
of lanterns on a railroad track. 

In a large estate on Long Island Sound 
there is a considerable lake, with an island in 
the center, which the owner has adorned with 
a picturesque lighthouse. The effect is dec- 
orative and no harm was done until the 
owner conceived the idea that a bright red 
light atop the lighthouse would look well 
when reflected in the water. 

Since it was his own property he installed 
the red light without consulting any one. 
There is an immense amount of traffic pass- 
ing this point, and in a few days questions 
began to pour in upon the Government from 
the skippers of all kinds of craft, asking 
why a red danger signal had suddenly been 
lit at a certain point without notifying them 
of the danger. 

The picturesque red light was turned out 
with great promptness on government re- 
quest. The instance shows that the setting 
of lights or other aids to navigation along 
waterways without official sanction would 

231 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

quickly lead to trouble. Incidentally, there is 
involved a possible fine of a hundred dollars 
a day. 

Before one may start a lighthouse of his 
own or install any other aid to navigation, 
it is necessary to explain the situation to the 
Government. This may be readily done with 
the aid of blanks and papers provided for 
the purpose. The private aids are often 
very valuable, however, in marking dredging 
channels, and localities where special serv- 
ice is required. 

Permission to install them is often granted 
to yacht-clubs, or to the governments of 
cities or towns. The lights and fog signals 
on ferry-slips which -guide the ferry-boats 
in thick weather come under this head. 
There are at present about three hundred 
lights maintained privately and two hundred 
other unlighted aids and, curiously enough, 
nearly fifty fog signals. 

More than 60 per cent of all the minor and 
float lights in the United States, or more 
than two thousand, do duty along the Mis- 
sissippi River and its tributaries. The prin- 
cipal rivers thus safeguarded, other than the 

232 



OUR INLAND WATERS 

Mississippi, are the Connecticut, Hudson, 
Delaware, and St. Johns on the Atlantic and 
the Columbia and Willamette on the Pacific 
coast. 

All important navigable rivers are lighted 
to-day. Some idea of the extent of this 
branch of the service may be gained from the 
statement that this comprises more than six 
thousand miles of river channels. Of this 
total about 4226 miles are along the Missis- 
sippi River and its tributaries. The chan- 
nels are indicated at present by 1798 lights 
and 861 buoys, and this number is being 
steadily increased., 



233 



CHAPTER XV 

WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

THE United States coast-guard, com- 
prising an army of four thousand 
trained men, regularly patrols a shore-line 
thirteen thousand miles in length. The 
lighthouses and light-ships act as sentinels 
along our coast; the coast-guard forms the 
inner line of defense. Should a ship by any 
blunder pass the outer guard, it may still 
count upon the assistance of the cutter serv- 
ice and the coast-guard which constantly 
patrols our beaches. 

It is difficult to picture the beaches along 
our ocean front on either seaboard except in 
their summer setting. One recalls only the 
long stretches of glistening sands, the crowds 
in summer dress, and everywhere the holiday 
spirit. During an especially severe Janu- 
ary storm the writer, in search of local color, 
visited one of the most popular of the New 

234 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

Jersey coast resorts. The presence of miles 
of deserted hotels and cottages sitting close 
to the sea's edge added to the scene a pe- 
culiar desolation. The familiar pavilions and 
bathing-houses, the long rows of booths and 
shops now closely boarded up, were scarcely 
recognizable under the drifts of snow. 

The familiar line of the breakers had crept 
far up the beach. The snow fell steadily, 
while a biting wind drew in from the north- 
east, drowning even the sound of the waves. 
In this desolate landscape a faint light ap- 
peared moving irregularly from side to side 
through the snow. It grew slowly brighter, 
making a faint halo in the driving storm. 'A 
figure dressed in oilskins came out of the 
£torm, slowly swinging a lantern from side 
to side, his body meanwhile bent almost 
double in its struggle against the wind. 

It would be difficult to find a more violent 
contrast than that of the summer idler of the 
beaches and this heroic figure of the coast- 
guard. The patrol had forsaken the broad 
board-walk and trudged laboriously in the 
soft sand at the water's edge. The wind 
made even a word of greeting impossible, 

235 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

but the guard swung his lantern with a 
friendly gesture, and a moment later was lost 
in the snow and darkness. 

Every night for thousands of miles these 
lights move back and forth along our inter- 
minable coast-line. Tens of thousands of 
miles are thus patrolled in all extremes of 
weather on the chance of sighting a vessel 
in distress. Months, even years, may pass 
without one of the guards chancing upon a 
single wreck, but their vigilance is never 
relaxed. Some day or night the lantern may 
bring an answering signal from some ship 
at sea. Instantly the entire machinery of 
life-saving will be set in motion. The coast- 
guard remains on duty for years so that when 
a crisis arises it may save a few moments of 
priceless time. 

The coast-guard life-saving stations along 
our coasts are of course familiar to all sum- 
mer visitors. It often chances that a popu- 
lous seaside resort springs up about them. 
The stations have been largely standardized 
as to their architecture and equipment. 
There are usually a tower for the lookout 
and a comfortable home for the guard ad- 

236 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

joining. The most distinctive feature of 
these stations after the tower is usually the 
great barn-like door, which opens from the 
boat-house where the life-boats are housed. 
A runway, usually of concrete, leads from 
this entrance to the beach. An attractive 
garden neatly fenced usually surrounds the 
building. There are at present about 330 
of these coast-guard stations spaced more 
or less regularly along our thirteen thousand 
miles of coast. 

The efficiency of the service has been 
greatly increased by linking the stations to- 
gether by telephone and wireless electricity. 
In the old days such communication was, of 
course, impossible, and each station must act 
as an independent unit. If a wreck was 
sighted within the boundaries of one patrol 
the only assistance available was probably 
that of a single station. Hours might be re- 
quired, especially in bad weather, to carry 
news of the wreck to other stations, and to 
receive their response. To-day the stations 
on the eastern seaboard alone are linked to- 
gether by more than two thousand miles of 
telephone wires and cables. 

237 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

The installation of wireless at the stations 
naturally marked a new era in their work 
and has wonderfully increased their useful- 
ness. The life-saving stations are now in 
instant communication with one another. 
Let a distress signal be picked up from a 
wreck by one of the coast-guards on patrol, 
and detailed news of the situation is at once 
flashed to other stations in all directions 
which could possibly lend assistance. 

The coast-guard is recruited and trained 
by the Government, much the same as men 
are prepared for service in the navy. On 
enlisting the men are subjected to rigid 
examination. The officers of the service re- 
ceive training at the Coast-guard School at 
New London, Connecticut. The men are 
paid according to their rank, as in the navy. 
New recruits enlist for periods varying from 
one to three years. They are controlled by 
the Navy Department. The service at pres- 
ent comprises upward of five hundred war- 
rant officers and nearly four thousand petty 
officers and enlisted men. 

The work accomplished by the service 
measured in lives saved and property sal- 

238 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

vaged comes as a surprise. In a single year 
about a thousand lives are actually saved by 
these men. In addition to this record, about 
five thousand persons on vessels in distress 
are assisted every year. The derelicts which 
are retrieved annually from the sea and re- 
turned to their owners are valued at more 
than a million dollars. 

The vessels in distress which have been 
assisted and brought safely to port are valued 
in a year, with their cargoes, at more than 
$65,000,000. The cost of maintaining the 
service is about ten million dollars a year. 
As with the lighthouse service, the expense 
of maintenance is but a trifling fraction of 
the property that is saved. 

The life-guards are at the beck and call 
of every ship. A guard patrolling the beach 
near Ocean City, Maryland, early one morn- 
ing sighted a large steamer stranded one and 
a half miles offshore. She proved to be the 
Louisiana with a cargo of oil, carrying a crew 
of twenty-eight men. The guard quickly re- 
ported the fact to his station, which in turn 
communicated with the district superin- 
tendent by telephone, and asked for assist- 

239 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

ance of the crew of the next station. The 
keeper and three men from this station at 
once responded, and a large life-boat was 
manned and put out for the wreck. 

When they reached the Louisiana after 
great difficulty, her captain declined any as- 
sistance, except that they send a message 
to the owners, which he placed in a bottle 
and threw overboard. The life-boat put 
back to land. In the afternoon of the same 
day, the Louisiana again signaled that she 
was in distress. The surf was even higher 
and more dangerous than in the morning, 
but the surf-boat responded bravely. This 
time the captain explained that he only 
wanted the guards to ,send a message to a 
wrecking company. On their return to 
shore one of the crew of the life-boat was 
washed overboard and sustained serious in- 
juries. 

The same night the Louisiana again sent 
distress signals, and sent up rockets calling 
for the assistance of the guard cutter Yama- 
craw, and also sent out the SOS. The 
Yamacraw, which was many miles away, at 
once responded. She arrived in the dark 

240 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

and while a high sea was running. A boat 
was put out from the Yamacraw and brought 
alongside the Louisiana, when a wave swept 
over the deck, falling on the rowboat and 
throwing all her crew into the water. De- 
spite every effort several of the crew were 
lost. 

The writer chanced to be an eye-witness of 
a rescue carried out by a crew of life-guards 
near Asbury Park, New Jersey. The wreck 
occurred in summer, but the storm which 
blew out of the northeast was the most se- 
vere the coast had known in years. The 
wind had lashed the surf high into a 
smother of foam. No open boat, it was 
thought, could live in the waves. All bath- 
ing along the beach had been stopped hours 
before by the life-guards. 

The wreck was a private yacht carrying 
its owner, a passenger, and a crew of five 
men. It had been running up the New Jersey 
coast against the storm. There was no inlet 
or harbor in which it could take shelter, it 
was impossible to land, and the only chance 
of escape, it was decided, was to keep on in 
the hope of reaching the shelter of Sandy 

241 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Hook. At a point near Asbury Park the at- 
tempt to buck the wind and sea proved too 
much for the craft, and she turned inshore. 

Even then all lives could have been saved 
by driving the yacht directly on the beach. 
She would not have grounded until the water 
was so shallow that those aboard could swim 
or struggle ashore with the aid of the life- 
savers. This course would have completely 
wrecked the yacht, and its owner took the 
chance of saving her. While she was about 
half a mile offshore her anchor was thrown 
out, and for some time it held her fast. 

The yacht meanwhile, caught in the in- 
shore breakers, tossed about so violently that 
it seemed at every moment she must break 
loose or be dashed to pieces. It was only by 
the greatest effort that the crew, clinging to 
the yacht, could keep from being washed 
overboard. A crowd of several thousand 
people meanwhile gathered on the beach. 

The largest surf-boat of the life-guard 
station had been run out and pushed by will- 
ing hands to the water's edge, but experi- 
enced seamen decided that no open boat 
could survive in such a surf. A revenue cut- 

242 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

ter which chanced to be several miles up the 
coast, carrying on a geodetic survey, was 
meanwhile picked up by wireless and now 
appeared about two miles offshore. While 
the coast-guards still hesitated a boat from 
the cutter was seen to start inshore. It came 
bravely through the surf, but the wind car- 
ried it far from the wreck, and it came in a 
mile or more down the coast. 

As a last resort the life-boat was now 
manned, the guards wearing bathing-suits 
for greater freedom of action. The first in- 
coming breaker caught the boat and lifted 
her prow so high that it seemed she must 
topple over backward. As she fell into the 
sea the rowers got a purchase on the oars, 
however, and she moved slowly but steadily 
outside. 

With the greatest difficulty she was kept on 
a course laid in the general direction of the 
yacht. The life-boat approached to within 
a few yards of the yacht, when, with the aid 
of glasses, several black dots were clearly 
seen in the water about her. Evidently these 
were the heads of the crew, who had jumped 
or been swept off the yacht. 

243 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

From the shore the life-boat was seen to 
crawl slowly toward the yacht, and then 
suddenly, as she rose on a great wave, four 
men leaped overboard. To venture in such 
a sea at this distance from land seemed sui- 
cidal. A cheer of encouragement rose from 
the crowd. With the glasses half a dozen 
black spots could now be seen bobbing about 
in the surf. For many minutes the crowd 
must stand helplessly while a few hundred 
yards away these men were struggling for 
their lives. 

The life-boat, guided by skilful hands, was 
seen to approach the wreck and, after many 
failures, to take several men aboard. After a 
long wait, as it seemed, she turned inshore 
and made her way slowly through the surf, 
in imminent danger every moment of being 
turned bottom up. It was soon seen that 
three black spots still floated in the water 
near her. The group slowly fought its way 
towards shore. As the three approached, 
many bathers waded far out in the surf, 
forming a ring. Two life-guards support- 
ing a third man between them were finally 
swept within its reach.. 

244 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

A rescue from the sea, as dramatized in 
the moving pictures or on the stage, is a 
heroic affair. In real life things often go 
very differently. The two life-guards 
emerged from the water supporting the pas- 
senger in dripping black clothes and with a 
hat jammed down over his ears. As the 
water streamed from him he looked at the 
crowd in evident embarrassment at attract- 
ing so much attention, and as a final touch of 
absurdity he tried to straighten his necktie. 
The life-boat brought in all the crew of the 
yacht. The owner could not be found, and 
his body was washed ashore many hours 
later. 

The radio installation is invaluable to the 
stations for picking up distress signals from 
ships at sea. The time thus gained in giving 
the alarm often makes it possible to reach a 
vessel in distress in time to save the lives of 
those on board — perhaps to assist the vessel 
in keeping off dangerous shoals or reefs., 
How many wrecks have been caused in the 
past by the delay in signaling ashore and ob- 
taining assistance ? In heavy storms or fogs 
a vessel may go aground and its crew or 

245 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

passengers be obliged to take to the boats. 
The vessel may have been almost within hail 
of a coast-guard station, but have been un- 
able to give the alarm until its life-boats 
have actually reached the shore. 

The radio call for help is frequently picked 
up by the stations before a vessel has gone 
ashore, or while it still lies in a position 
which will be tenable for several hours. The 
distress signal not only serves to call out the 
life-boats of the nearest life-saving station, 
perhaps several of them, but is instantly 
flashed to the nearest cutter station of the 
service. Fast boats may thus be despatched 
to the assistance of the vessel within a few 
minutes after the call for help has been sent 
out. 

There are at present more than a score 
of coast-guard stations which the cutters 
make their points of departure. The largest 
of these cutters have a tonnage of seventeen 
hundred, and several have more than a thou- 
sand tons each. There are, besides, about 
twenty-five harbor cutters of about two hun- 
dred tons or less. The list of these stations 
will give an idea of the immensely varied 

246 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

conditions under which the service is car- 
ried on. Stations are now maintained at 
New York; Philadelphia; Boston; Portland, 
Maine; Woods Hole, Massachusetts; Balti- 
more; Norfolk; New Berne, South Caro- 
lina; Wilmington, Delaware; Savannah; 
Key West; San Juan, Porto Rico; Mobile, 
Alabama; Galveston, Texas; Detroit; Mil- 
waukee ; Sault Sainte Marie ; San Francisco ; 
Astoria, Oregon ; Port Townsend, Washing- 
ton; and Seattle, Washington. 

The average landsman, even the resident 
of great seaports, will probably read with 
amazement of the varied activities of the 
revenue cutters. Even the concise statement 
of the government report on their activities 
makes very interesting reading. They are 
as follows: 

i. Rendering of assistance to vessels in 
distress and saving of life and property at 
sea and on the Great Lakes. 

2. Operation as a part of the navy in 
time of war, or when the President shall 
direct. 

3. Destruction or removal of wrecks, 

247 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

derelicts, and other floating dangers to navi- 
gation from the paths of ocean commerce. 

4. Extending medical aid to American 
vessels engaged in the deep sea fisheries. 

5. Protection of the customs revenue. 

6. Enforcement of the laws and regula- 
tions governing the anchorage of vessels in 
navigable waters. 

7. Enforcement of the laws relating to 
quarantine and neutrality. 

8. Suppression of mutinies on merchant 
vessels. 

9. Enforcement of the navigation and 
other laws governing merchant vessels and 
motor-boats. 

10. Enforcement of the law to provide 
for safety of life on navigable waters during 
regattas and marine parades. 

11. Protection of game and the seal and 
other fisheries in Alaska. 

12. Enforcement of the sponge fishing 
laws. 

13. Patrol of the Grand Banks of New- 
foundland for the United States under inter- 
national agreement, for the protection of 
ships from ice-fields and icebergs. 

248 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

14* Patrol of the Western rivers for 
the rescue of life and property during floods 
and for other purposes. 

In their patrol work in northern latitudes 
the vessels often face the dangers of arctic 
exploration. They must venture far north 
at unpropitious seasons in their search for 
icebergs. On many long trips they learn 
the position of great ice-floes and their 
course. Information is broadcasted by radio 
and in turn picked up and relayed to all At- 
lantic ports from which ships sail for these 
regions. This patrol work carries them far 
from their bases of supplies — far indeed 
from any port or the ship's lanes or possible 
assistance in case of accident. 

A typical exploit of the cutters in their 
patrol of northern waters, chosen at random 
from their long list of adventures, was the 
salvage of the Swedish steamer Mujik. The 
Seneca, which is famous for its efficient work 
in northern latitudes, chanced to be at Hali- 
fax taking on supplies when she picked up 
a radio call for help. She started at once 
for a lonely region of the North Atlantic and 

249 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

after a two days' search came upon the Mujik 
150 miles off Cape Breton. 

A number of attempts were made to get 
a line aboard the Mujik, but in the darkness, 
with high winds and rough seas, she repeat- 
edly failed. A line-throwing gun was used 
with no better success. The Swedish steamer 
meanwhile was dismasted by the storm and 
floated helplessly. The Seneca stood by and 
drifted with the Mujik for three days and 
nights. It was not until the two ships had 
covered about 150 miles that a hawser could 
be passed between them. A life-boat was 
finally brought alongside the wreck, and the 
crew of nineteen men was taken off in safety, 
when the Seneca proceeded upon her regular 
business. A little adventure of this sort is 
all in her day's work. 

An important service was performed by 
the Seneca in a trip to Yakutah, Alaska, to 
carry medical aid to the natives during an 
epidemic of influenza. Invaluable aid was 
also given to the victims of the forest fires 
on the shores of Lake Superior. When a 
fleet of whaling vessels was marooned by the 
ice in a remote part of Alaska, the cutter 

250 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

Bear brought supplies to Nunivak Island, 
and her crew carried them a thousand miles 
overland in midwinter over a desolate ice- 
field which might have daunted an arctic 
explorer. 

In this connection it may be well to explain 
that the wrecking companies on both sea- 
boards, which sometimes work in connection 
with the coast-guard, are private organiza- 
tions. No record of the sentinels along our 
coast would be complete, however, which did 
not include some reference, however brief, 
to their work. The equipment for salvaging 
wrecks held in readiness at New York is 
probably the most complete in the world. It 
includes the most powerful machinery for 
handling wrecks, and a large staff of skilled 
workers, many of whom have been recruited 
from the lighthouse service and coast-guard. 

The wrecking machinery comprises great 
floats and powerful steam-driven derricks, 
fleets of sea-going tugboats, and complete 
divers' outfits, with pontoons and other 
equipment for floating sunken ships. Men 
skilled in every detail of ship-building and 
seamanship are held constantly in readiness. 

251. 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Let a call for help be flashed by radio from 
any point on the Atlantic seaboard, and the 
wrecking outfits will be on their way to the 
scene of the disaster almost with the alac- 
rity of a fire-engine. 

In most wrecks every hour gained in reach- 
ing the scene is valuable. In a few hours the 
pounding of the waves may do immense dam- 
age. A vessel which had gone ashore on a 
reef will be quickly pounded to pieces., The 
work of the wreckers may be continued for 
months at a time. There have been several 
wrecks in New York Harbor of late where 
the wrecking machinery has been in opera- 
tion for many months, trying first one 
method and then another before the sunken 
vessel could be brought to the surface. In 
some cases all efforts fail and the vessel must 
be blown up and the wreck removed piece- 
meal. 

The ship's wreckers face perils and adven- 
tures no less thrilling than those of the coast- 
guard or the lighthouse service. A recent 
experience may be recalled to illustrate the 
spirit of the men in their battle with the sea. 
A large steel vessel built with several strong 

252 



WITH THE COAST-GUARD 

bulkheads was recently wrecked in the North 
Atlantic, going down in very deep water. It 
was decided that the best plan of raising her 
was to repair the damage to several of her 
compartments, make them air- and water- 
tight, and then, by pumping air into them, 
lend the vessel sufficient buoyancy to float her 
to the surface of the water. 

The work had to be done by divers work- 
ing at an unusual depth. The necessary 
boats were anchored alongside and the 
crews of divers descended to the wreck. The 
work extended over many months, for on the 
rising of the sea it was necessary to call 
the divers quickly to the surface and wait, 
perhaps for days, until the sea was quiet 
enough for them to descend. The strong 
currents at this point lent still another dan- 
ger. 

One day the divers descended as usual to 
the deck of the wreck, and, trailing behind 
them their long flexible hose, which supplied 
them with air, made their way to the com- 
partment far below. The compartment had 
been repaired, and the cracks stuffed with 
oakum. The work was so near completion 

253 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

that a pipe was run down from the air- 
pumps, which were set to work. Gradually 
the air forced back the water until the men, 
although in divers' suits, found themselves 
in a chamber partly filled with air, all this of 
course far below the surface of the ocean. 

To assist in the work they had brought 
lights with them, and these were now lit. 
Although the greatest care was taken, the 
flame from one of the lamps set fire to the 
oakum wedged into the crevices. The com- 
pressed air of the chamber caused the fire to 
burn with unusual rapidity. The position 
of the divers trapped far below the sea in this 
air-tight chamber, with a fire raging about 
them, was unique. They bravely stuck to 
their posts, however, and beat out the fire 
with their hands, made clumsy by the great 
divers' mits.. 



254 



CHAPTER XVI 

STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

THE nine-hundred-foot Atlantic liner, 
inward bound, had passed the Nan- 
tucket Light-vessel in a heavy fog with a 
brief exchange of radio signals. The cross- 
ing had been made at an even twenty-five 
knots, the speed of a railroad train, and New 
York, now only a hundred miles ahead, 
should be reached in record time. Back in 
the cabins about three thousand passengers 
were making merry over the last night at 
sea. 

On the bridge, meanwhile, the ship's offi- 
cers read the complicated instruments about 
them with serious faces. The fog hid the 
mastheads; even the lookout forward could 
not be seen, and must telephone his observa- 
tions to the wheel-house. In such weather an 
old-time craft would have promptly anchored 
and waited for daylight and clear weather. 

255 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

The great ocean liner carrying the popula- 
tion of a large town must run on schedule.. 
Th.e exact time of the famous liner's cross- 
ing would be read with interest the next 
morning in the newspapers of two conti- 
nents. 

In the thickening fog the powerful lights 
ashore were completely hidden. The liner's 
speed, meanwhile, made it possible to cal- 
culate her distance from the Nantucket 
Light-ship, but in such weather she must lay 
her course almost blindfolded. Many a ship 
sailing by dead reckoning along this shore 
had made a wrong turn and come to grief. 
The group of officers about the wheel, mean- 
while, kept an eye upon a quartermaster 
standing just behind the compass with a 
telephone receiver clasped to his head. His 
hands rested on a horizontal wheel before 
him which swung an arrow about a small 
compass. 

After a long silence, the quartermaster 
suddenly grasped the wheel before him and 
spun it delicately to and fro. The eyes of 
the group closely followed him. Then, as 
the needle came to rest, the quartermaster 

256 




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turned quickly to the officers with a welcome 
announcement. It was very brief, but it 
served instantly to relieve the tension, "Fire 
Island," he announced. 

The simple instrument which had so re- 
lieved the minds of the ship's officers was the 
new radio compass. The arrow above the 
compass, when adjusted by the radio signal, 
fixed the ship's course to the fraction of a 
degree., The lighthouses ashore were no 
longer needed. The liner could now drive 
ahead at full speed through the thickest fog 
with absolute assurance that she was exactly 
on her course. 

The system of radio signals is surprisingly 
simple. They are flashed far out to sea from 
three stations in the vicinity of the entrance 
to New York Harbor, each being distinctive 
so that it can be instantly identified. One 
of the sending stations is aboard the Am- 
brose Light-ship directly before the entrance 
to the harbor. A second station is located 
at Sea Girt on the New Jersey coast, about 
thirty miles to the south. The third station 
is aboard the Fire Island Light-ship, about 
thirty miles east of the Ambrose Light-ship, 

257 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

off the south shore of Long Island. The 
signals thrown out from Sea Girt have a 
range of two hundred miles, while the other 
two stations can be clearly read forty miles 
away. Even the speediest liners therefore 
can pick up the radio signals several hours' 
sail from the harbor entrance. 

The radio compass signals are distinctive, 
so that they cannot by any chance be confused 
with the sending of other shore or ship sta- 
tions. The Ambrose Channel Light-ship 
sends out a series of signal dashes continu- 
ously for twenty seconds, and then remains 
silent for twenty seconds. The signal of the 
Fire Island Light-ship station is a series of 
double dashes continued for twenty-five sec- 
onds, followed by a silence of the same dura- 
tion. The Sea Girt station throws out a 
series of triple dashes, for sixty seconds, and 
then remains silent for six minutes. 

By listening in on these three signals it 
is possible to lay the ship's course with amaz- 
ing accuracy. The new system has the great 
advantage of being both simple and inexpen- 
sive. Any one can learn to read and trans- 
late the signals after a few minutes' instruc- 

258 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

tion. One need not be a radio expert, and 
no mathematical calculations are required. 
There is, besides, virtually no danger of mis- 
reading the signals or obtaining a wrong re- 
sult. Any ship's officer can readily read these 
signals and determine the exact position of 
his ship in a few seconds. 

At the present time the signals are sent 
out daily from all three stations from 9 to 
9:30 o'clock every morning and from 3 to 
3 130 p.m. When the weather is thick or the 
coastal lights are veiled by storms of any 
kind, the radio signals are sent out continu- 
ously day and night until the weather clears. 
The Government officially notified all ships 
entering New York Harbor of the new sys- 
tem early in 1921. 

The signals are not picked up by the ordi- 
nary antenna strung between the masts, but 
by a small loop antenna placed on top of the 
pilot-house. This is merely a square frame 
with wire wound about it. The loop is much 
the same as those used in many homes the 
country over for radio telephones, the kind 
that can be concealed behind a screen or a 
safe. 

259 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

All vessels equipped with the radio compass 
carry a small loop mounted on an upright 
directly above the compass. The antenna 
is connected with the compass by a vertical 
rod, and a wheel is fixed on the rod, making 
it possible to swing the antenna about as de- 
sired. The receiving instrument is equipped 
with a telephone, like that of any radio re- 
ceiving station, which fits over the ears. The 
ship's officer who operates the apparatus can 
thus listen in while both hands are left free 
to turn the wheel which adjusts the position 
of the antenna placed above the roof of the 
pilot house. 

On picking up one of these messages the 
antenna is turned until the sound is clearest. 
This result is obtained when the wires are 
brought on the same plane with the sending 
station. The position of the antenna will 
then indicate the exact direction from which 
the message is being sent. The apparatus 
is so sensitive that the direction of the send- 
ing station can be obtained within about one 
degree, which is sufficient for all practical 
purposes of navigation. 

The position of the antenna is shown in re- 

260 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

lation to the compass by means of cross wires 
on an arrow, which are swung above the 
face of the compass. With a little practice 
it is possible to pick up the wireless signals, 
adjust the antenna, and read the direction 
in a few seconds. The navigator readily 
recognizes the station from the nature of its 
signal, and learns the exact point of the com- 
pass in which it lies. 

When this is noted he directs his attention 
to picking up another of the three messages. 
By adjusting the antenna in the same man- 
ner and observing the compass the direction 
of the second station is then obtained. The 
third station is then picked up and its direc- 
tion recorded. 

With a map of the harbor before him, the 
navigator now draws three lines from the 
three radio lighthouses in the direction indi- 
cated by the compass readings. The inter- 
section of the three lines gives him the 
position of his ship with accuracy. The 
readings made with the wireless compass are 
within one degree of absolute accuracy, 
whereas most navigators are content in plot- 
ting their courses to work with observations 

261 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

which are within two and a half degrees of 
being correct. 

The readings are taken from time to time 
to check the course. In heavy weather espe- 
cially, with high winds, a vessel may be 
forced off her course, but the radio signals 
make it possible to bring her back at any 
moment. In case a strong current draws 
the ship off her course, the radio signal 
would enable the pilot to correct it at frequent 
intervals. There are no dangerous cur- 
rents about the entrance to New York Har- 
bor, but in the harbors and coasts endan- 
gered by currents the radio compass will 
be invaluable. 

The service tender Tulip has made ex- 
haustive tests of the compass under very try- 
ing conditions at different hours of the day 
and night and at all seasons. One of the 
experiments off the New Jersey shore was 
especially interesting. The Tulip proceeded 
to a point about twenty miles off Sea Girt, 
New Jersey, and after drifting about for a 
time ascertained its position and laid its 
course for the Ambrose Light-ship. At 
about one o'clock in the afternoon radio 

262 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

bearings were received from Sea Girt and 
the course was corrected. Half an hour 
later the radio signal was picked up from 
the Fire Island Light-ship and the course 
checked. About twenty minutes later the 
course was again checked from the signals 
and a slight change made. The start had 
been made off Sea Girt at 12:37 p.m., and 
the Ambrose Light-ship was reached at 2 128 
p.m. After a run of nearly two hours, the 
Tulip, coming in from the open sea, passed 
within less than three hundred feet of the 
Ambrose Light-ship. 

Another day the Tulip came around the 
eastern end of Long Island and when some 
miles offshore started in a general westerly 
direction. The signals sent out from the Fire 
Island Light-ship were first picked up at 
1 135 p.m. The radio bearings were taken and 
the ship's course was laid by this signal for 
the light-ship. The ship proceeded, taking 
no observations except her dead reckoning. 

An hour later the radio signals had be- 
come much clearer, and another observation 
was taken and the ship's course slightly 
altered. After another hour's sailing the 

263 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

radio signals were again observed, but the 
readings were the same and the ship's course 
was not altered in the slightest. Readings 
were taken at the end of another hour, and 
it was found necessary to make a slight alter- 
ation in the ship's course. At 5:15 p.m. the 
Fire Island Light-ship was first sighted, but 
no alteration was made in the ship's course, 
which was continued according to the wire- 
less direction. 

The Tulip arrived abeam of the Fire 
Island Light-ship at 6:02 p.m. and actually- 
passed only eight hundred feet north of the 
vessel. This distance is less than the length 
of some liners, and demonstrates the relia- 
bility of the new signals beyond any question. 
The same result could have been obtained if 
the windows of the pilot-house on the Tulip 
had been tightly closed and the course had 
been calculated wholly in the dark. In an- 
other test the Tulip, guided by the radio com- 
pass, approached the light-vessel on a course 
which would have struck her directly amid- 
ship. 

It is a very simple matter, as this test 
shows, for a vessel equipped with a radio 

264 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

compass to determine its exact position from 
a single sending station. A vessel thus 
equipped, for instance, might pick up the 
radio signal from the Diamond Shoal Light- 
ship and would not only be warned of the 
direction in which the dangerous shoals lay, 
but could from this signal determine just 
how far she lay from the light-vessels send- 
ing the warning. It is impossible of course 
for a vessel to find its distance from a light- 
house or any station sending out signals by 
fog-horn or submarine bell. Many wrecks 
have been caused by misjudging the distance 
of a lighthouse at night in thick weather. 

Imagine a vessel lost in the fog for many 
hours or even days off some dangerous coast. 
The vessel has probably been laying its course 
by dead reckoning, and may be many miles 
from the position these readings have indi- 
cated. The most powerful lights on the At- 
lantic or Pacific coasts carry about twenty- 
five miles under favorable conditions. If 
the weather is thick they may not be seen for 
a mile or even a few hundred feet. The fog- 
horn signals at dangerous points will not 
carry far in thick weather and may be mis- 

265 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

read. The submarine bell will give a vessel a 
general direction, but leave it in doubt as to 
its distance from the reef or shallow it 
guards. 

The radio compass signals have worked 
effectively in tests for 150 miles, which is 
quite far enough for all practical purposes 
of navigation. Let the vessel which finds it- 
self lost in the fog, and far off its course, 
pick up one of the radio compass signals. 
It at once tells the navigator the direction 
of the sending station within less than one 
degree. After taking this reading the vessel 
proceeds on its course, and later takes a sec- 
ond reading. 

The direction will doubtless be found some- 
what changed because of the new position of 
the ship. These two readings, and the dis- 
tance traveled between them, are of course 
all the navigator needs to know. He has 
now the length of one side of a triangle, and 
the angle of the two sides to this base. It 
is a very simple matter to determine just 
how far he lies off the sending station, and 
the danger point it guards. The same calcu- 

266 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

lation may be made in reading the signals 
sent out by a ship in distress. 

The manifold advantages of the radio 
compass have been tersely summed up in a 
recent government report as follows : 

(a) The navigator can obtain bearings 
himself; he can do this promptly and as 
needed, and is not dependent upon others for 
the accuracy of the results. 

(fo) Any number of vessels may obtain 
bearings simultaneously and as frequently as 
may be desired. 

(c) No knowledge of radiotelegraphy is 
necessary on the part of the navigator. 

(d) Use of the radio signal as a leading 
mark for which to steer directly or to keep 
outside of. 

(e) The direction finder may be used for 
locating other vessels at sea, for preventing 
collisions in fog, or for seeking vessels in 
distress. 

(/) The transmitting stations, being au- 
tomatic, may be operated by employees of 
existing lighthouses or light-vessels, thus 

267 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

avoiding the necessity of additional per- 
sonnel. 

(g) This method has a strategic value, 
as a vessel can get bearings without disclos- 
ing its own position. As opposed to this is 
the fact that the shore sending stations are 
more apt to be disclosed and might be useful 
to an enemy., 

The importance of radio signals in fogs 
and thick weather has long been recognized. 
Such signals have heretofore been used on a 
laboratory basis, and could not be depended 
upon for long distances and under trying con- 
ditions. Considerable progress had been 
made in these experiments before the war, 
but it was interrupted. The French light- 
house service established two stations for 
sending out radio signals on the French 
coast in 19 12. The signals were sent out on 
an eight-meter wave-length. The work was 
announced to be experimental and has not 
since had any practical application. 

The first practical tests on a large scale 
were made in the United States in 191 5. 
Radio signals were sent out at that time 

268 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

from the Navesink Lighthouse. A radio 
compass was placed on the Tulip. The re- 
sults were promising, but the war inter- 
rupted the tests, and they were not resumed 
until 1 9 19. In that year experimental radio 
sets were installed at three lighthouses in 
Chesapeake Bay, and a compass was in- 
stalled on the tender Arbutus. In the fol- 
lowing year the instruments were improved 
and the radio compass was placed in regular 
operation in New York Harbor. 

It is not generally known, for the secret 
was carefully guarded, that during the war 
considerable use was made abroad of the 
radio compass. A number of stations were 
equipped on shore in the fighting zone to 
obtain the bearings of ships and furnish this 
information for use in navigation. The 
service was utilized principally in the case of 
naval vessels, either war craft or transports. 
When the war was over the United States 
Navy Department established similar sta- 
tions along the coast of the United States to 
operate in connection with the naval stations 
already in existence. An elaborate test was 
made with great success by a number of 

269 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

these stations with the cruiser Chicago in 
1919. 

These radio stations are usually arranged 
in groups, and are now in successful opera- 
tion both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. 
They are prepared to furnish many bearings 
for ships asking for them. The radio sys- 
tem of the navy is the reverse of that of the 
lighthouse service, as it is being operated 
at the entrance to New York Harbor. In 
this case the sending stations on shore or 
aboard the light-ships assist the ships to 
ascertain their exact position. In the naval 
radio stations the stations transmit their 
position to the ships offshore. 

Many interesting experiments are being 
carried on to apply the radio signals to prac- 
tical navigation. A number of devices have 
been invented only to be abandoned. It has 
long been hoped that the radio could be em- 
ployed to determine distance at sea. The 
great advantages of such an apparatus are 
of course obvious. A distance-finding ap- 
paratus was invented and tested as early as 
191 1. Tests were first made in the vicinity 
of the Nantucket Light. The apparatus was 

270 



STEERING BY RADIO COMPASS 

installed on the Fire Island Light-ship, and 
all ships entering New York Harbor were 
notified in 1917, but it was later abandoned. 

It is only a question of time when radio 
signal stations will be installed in the vi- 
cinity of all important harbor entrances on 
the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Great 
Lakes. The cost of such equipment is ob- 
viously trifling in comparison with the loss 
of a single ship. 

The radio compass makes it possible for 
ships at sea to locate each other when ap- 
proaching or meeting, and when assistance is 
needed. Countless wrecks could have been 
avoided in the past, with their tragic tolls 
of death, could the radio compass have been 
employed. Although the device is new it has 
already proved invaluable in American 
waters. Probably the first use of its kind 
was in picking up the Norwegian steamer 
Onataneda, which reported itself in distress 
off Newfoundland. She gave her position 
by wireless, which, calculated by dead reck- 
oning, was ninety miles in error. 

Her distress call was picked up by several 
vessels, but only one of these, the steamship 

271 



SENTINELS ALONG OUR COAST 

Fanad Head, was equipped with a radio di- 
rection finder. While the other vessels were 
searching blindly for the Onataneda the 
Fanad Head had no trouble in ascertaining 
her exact position and reaching her in time 
to save the lives of those on board. 

When the steamer Alaska was lost off 
Cape Mendocino, California, her call for 
help was picked up by several station ships, 
but none carried radio direction finders. It 
was afterward discovered tha f f h? :teamer 
Wahkeena was only fourteen miles away 
when she picked up the Alaska's SOS, but 
ten hours were lost in blindly groping in the 
dark in search of her. Many lives might 
have been saved had there been a radio com- 
pass aboard the Wahkeena, or if the nearest 
light-vessel had been able to send out 
radio fog signals. The tragic stories of 
ships with their crews and passengers lost 
for lack of this simple device might be con- 
tinued indefinitely. 

The radio compass opens a new era in the 
long history of navigation in safeguarding 
the lives of those who go down to the sea in 
ships. 

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